Arkitektúr og skipulag - 01.09.1990, Side 81

ENGLISH SUMMARY
theamount of spacedevoted to parking.
PAGE 42 ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSERVATION AND INTERNA-
TIONAL RELATIONS
Professor Gunnar Schram discusses the
problems of achieving international collaboration
to protect the environment. Efforts to protect the
oceans from pollution have not yet received full
international recognition, while concern about
the ozone layer and the greenhouse effect are
now leading to international collaboration.
Iceland is no longer isolated from the outside
world, and must play an active role in this vital
area.
PAGE 46 ENVIRONMENTAL
CENTRES IN ICELAND - VARIOUS
SUGGESTIONS
lceland’s unusual status as an unpolluted, wild
and natural island have led to suggestions of five
different projects for “environmental centres” of
one kind and another: 1. a multi-purpose health
resort and spa at the Krísuvík geothermal area.
2. an international scientific institute in lceland,
related to a possible Environmental Prize. 3. A
research centre on the North Atlantic and its
ecological state. 4. Millennium City, a (possibly
floating) ecological prototype, self-supporting in
terms of energy, etc. 5. An experimental project
for a glass-roofed “bubble” with a warm tropical
environment, in the centre of lceland’s
uninhabitable interior.
PAGE49 SUPERPROJECTS
Engineer Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson writes
about greater public awareness of the environ-
mental and otherdangersthatgiantdevelopment
projects can involve. He makes the point that
many projects which were enormously
expensive by the standards of the time have long
ago proved their value. He states that the most
important projects which have to be undertaken
now concern the environment and energy. They
require time, money and close international
collaboration. Many imaginative new ideas have
been suggested for solving these problems.
PAGE 52 IMAGINATION IN
ARCHITECTURE
Architect, planner Gestur Ólafsson
points out the difficulty architects experience in
putting their new architectural ideas into practice.
He cites the case of Holland, where an
architectural competition was held for new home
designs. The local authority provided land, and
the houses were built by a local contractor and put
on show to the public. A similar project could be
carried out in lceland’s capital area. The buildings
would ultimately be sold as homes or offices.
PAGE 55 INTERNATIONAL ENVI-
RONMENTAL ISSUES - AND ODDI
Dr. Þór Jakobsson, discusses the envi-
ronmental issues now faced by mankind, with
reference to Gro Harlem Brundtland’s report Our
Common Future. Problems need to be solved
from the “whole earth” viewpoint. He suggests
that the time has come for lceland to establish its
own environmental centre, whose role would
include education, as well as research on natural
phenomena like the Northern Lights, the
atmosphere, astronomy, etc. Historical and
ecological research on the natural environment
would also be carried out. He suggests that an apt
location for the centre would be Oddi in southern
lceland, which was historically a centre of
scholarship.
PAGE 60 ON THE DRAWING
BOARD
A multi-storey car park on Hverfisgata,
Reykjavík in the old part of the capital city, among
existing buildings. Parking for 271 vehicles, 115 of
them underground. Architect: Gunnar S.
Óskarsson.
PAGE63 MILJÖ 91
Miljö 91, A Nordic Conference on Envi-
ronmental Education will be held in Reykjavík in
June 1991. The conference logo is designed by
Sigurður Örn Brynjólfsson. This is the fifth such
conference; they have been held every two years,
in each of the Nordic capitals. The themes of the
conference will especially reflect issues relevant
to the lcelandic environment.
PAGE 64 STONE QUARRIES AND
NATURE CONSERVATION
Sverris Sch. Thorsteinsson writes about
means to achieve a compromise between
quarrying necessary stone for building and road
construction, and protecting natural geological
phenomena. He emphasises the importance of
collaboration among all those involved. Choice of
location for quarrying should be made in an organ-
ised and informed fashion, the quarrying should
not be haphazard but methodical, and sites
should not simply be abandoned, but left in good
condition. These matters are the businessof the
new Ministry of the Environment.
PAGE 69 ENVIRONMENTAL ART
Art historian Aðalsteinn Ingólfsson
traces the development of environmental art in
lceland from the rebellious works of the late
1960s, to fantastical signposts for the streets of
Reykjavík, a "house containing the whole world”
(i.e. the outside was on the inside), and a gate
that only the south wind could open.
PAGE 75 PLAN FOR CENTRAL
SELFOSS
The results of a competition held for a
plan for the centre of Selfoss. Fourteen entries
were submitted, and first prize went to
landscape architect Þráinn Hauksson and
architect Sigurður Hallgrímsson.
PAGE 83 PLAN FOR SETBERGS-
HLÍÐ
Setbergshlíð in Hafnarfjöður is being
developed by contractors SH. The development
was organised by a form of “turnkey contract” for
the entire area. The design is based on Bernard
Tschumi's ideas of “layer” development. The
sloping site has great influence on the design,
with reference to street planning, etc. A
sheltering wall is formed to north and east by
three-storey apartment blocks, while the height
of buildings throughout is limited to ensure a
clear view. The development will be mixed: nine
detached houses, 6 row houses, 32 apartments
in “stepped” four-storey houses, and 56
apartments in blocks. Work on the project
should begin this autumn.
PAGE87 THE FUTURE AIN'T WHAT
IT USED TO BE
The works of furniture designer
SigrúnKristjánsdóttir. She learned furniture-mak-
ing at the Technical School in Reykjavík, then
studied design at the London College of Furniture,
and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. The latter
school gave her the opportunity to put her ideas
into practice: her works are more than simply fur-
niture, and have a message to give, a story to tell.
Although her pieces are hand-made, this kind of
imaginative design could quite practically be
combined with the technology of mass production.
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