AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.09.1995, Page 74

E N G L I
The issue of Arkitektúr verktækni og
skipulag (Architecture, Technology
and Planning) focusses on lcelandic
expertise in construction.
PAGE 10 LEARNING FROM OUR
FOREFATHERS
Guðmundur L. Hafsteinsson writes
about what today's architects can
learn from the building traditions and
skills of the past, i.e. the methods of
building with turf. These old buildings
themselves had many technical draw-
backs, were cold and leaky, etc, but
the shapes of the old farmhouses, and
turf roofs, have provided inspiration to
architects, and stacked-turf walls have
been widely used in landscaping.
Above all, the turf house provides an
example of architecture that fits natu-
rally into the landscape, rather than
dominating it.
PAGE 13 WE MUST HAVE FAITH
INTHE YOUNG
Páll Sigurjónsson, managing director
of contractors ístak points out the im-
portance of applying Icelandic exper-
tise in the international sphere. He
suggests that young people need to
be encouraged to show what they can
do.
PAGE 15 RESEARCH IN THE
BUILDING INDUSTRY - ICELANDIC
EXPERTISE
Difficult conditions in lceland mean
that a vast amount of research has
been carried out by the Building Re-
search Institute into the best ways to
build hard-wearing structures. Re-
search has been done on alkali prob-
lems in concrete, and water-resistant
materials have been developed to
protect surfaces from weathering.
Lightweight concrete has been deve-
loped, using pumice, and work has
been carried out to develop a
viscometer to measure the viscosity
of concrete.
PAGE 18 FIBRE -OPTIC TECHNOL-
OGY
S H S U
Engineer Örn Jónsson writes about
the introduction of fibre-optic technol-
ogy by the lcelandic Post and Tel-
ecommunications Administration. The
fibre-optics department of P&T had
laid nearly 3,000 km of fibre-optic ca-
ble since 1985.
As far as possible, work on laying the
cables has been contracted out: in
some cases, the cable can be plough-
ed under the ground, while in other
areas excavation work, or explosives,
have been required. Iceland is a par-
ticipant in the CANTAT-3 submarine
cable between Canada and Europe,
which has revolutionised lceland’s
potential in international communica-
tions.
PAGE 20 IS OUR KNOWLEDGE IN
THE BUILDING INDUSTRY WORTH
ANYTHING?
Helgi Hafliðason draws attention to the
question of marketing lcelanders’ spe-
cial skills and expertise abroad. While
lcelanders have learned much from
other nations, they have had to adapt
that knowledge to lceland’s unusually
difficult environment. Icelanders are
already active on an international level
in connection with the fisheries, but the
authorfeelsthat broad-based collabo-
ration to market lcelandic expertise
would be fruitful: e.g. Icelandic con-
sultancy on development of fisheries
could lead to projects in shipbuilding,
construction, the provision of protec-
tive clothing, etc., all fields in which
the lcelanders could offer their serv-
ices.
PAGE22 ICELANDIC GEO-
THERMAL EXPERTISE
Physicist Valgarður Stefánsson writes
about lceland’s strong position in the
utilisation of geothermal energy. To-
day, geothermal energy provides 43%
of lceland’s energy needs, as against
HEP 16%, oil 38% and coal 3% (Fig.1).
The lcelanders have developed vari-
ous kinds of specialised technology
in drilling for hot water, and also in its
application in district heating systems.
M M A R Y
The savings represented by use of
geothermal energy are shown in Fig.3:
heating by geothermal energy is no
more than half the price of oil heating,
and the comparison is even more fa-
vourable at times of high oil prices.
Hitherto, lcelanders have served as
consultants in development of
geothermal energy projects abroad,
but more marketing of these special
skills is required if they are to yield
large-scale export earnings.
PAGE 26 THE PRIVATE CAR AND
CITY PLANNING
Haraldur Sigurðsson considers the
traffic policy of the City of Reykjavík.
He puts forward the view that the City
of Reykjavík has placed too high a
priority on free flow of traffic for pri-
vate cars, at the expense of building
up compact districts with accessible
services. He compares the narrow,
sheltered, cosy streets of the old part
of the city with the exposed, widely-
dispersed new suburbs. He argues
against the planners’ calculations on
the necessity of building ever more
motorways and overpasses, and their
claim that faster, freer-flowing traffic
saves time, and hence money. He
suggests that a different approach
should be taken to the problem, for
instance by offering alternatives to the
private car, planning districts where
people live close to the workplace, etc.
He points out that this is already hap-
pening in cities abroad.
PAGE32 CARS AND TRAFFIC
Bjarni Reynarsson considers the ways
in which the authorities could achieve
a reduction in use of private cars,
which is much greater in Reykjavík
than in cities in neighbouring coun-
tries. The table on p.33 shows the
nurmber of inhabitants per car for the
Nordic capitals, and the graph shows
growing car ownership and falling use
of buses. As much of 90% of travel
within the city is believed to be by pri-
vate car, which is similar to the pat-
tern in American cities. The author
72