AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.12.1996, Qupperneq 80

E N G L
This issue of Arkitektúr, verktækni og
skipulag (Architecture, Technology
and Planning) focuses on future plan-
ning and the need to incorporate vi-
sion of future developments rather
than only present requirements into
policy-making on a national scale. To
underline the importance of continu-
ity, the issue also has a strong histori-
cal focus.
PAGE9 ICELAND - FUTURE VI-
SION
Editor Gestur Olafsson points out that
some development taking place ac-
cording to Iceland’s present 30-year-
old planning legislation is in danger
of becoming obsolete by the time it is
actually carried out. Infrastructure
expenditure is now running at 5-10%
of GDP in OECD countries and grow-
ing rapidly, and increasing traffic noise
in residential areas is a particular prob-
lem in Reykjavík. Planning needs to
create a framework for ongoing adap-
tation to changing trends if develop-
ment is to be truly sustainable.
PAGE 13 PROGRESSIVE ICE-
LAND
Iceland’s Prime Minister, Davíð
Oddsson, discusses the difficulties that
Icelanders have had to overcome dur-
ing the rapid dvelopment of the coun-
try during this century. This has been
a difficult school but it has hopefully
prepared us well for the future. Eve-
rything points to a continuation of this
development. The increased use of
information technology will help
young Icelanders to make use of new
opportunities based on the experience
already gained.
PAGE 19 ICELAND IN THE
YEAR 2018
Results of a joint Environment Min-
istry and State Planning Authority
competition for original planning and
environmental designs for Iceland in
the year 2018. Of a total of 11 entries,
three shared the first prize. “The Sus-
tainable Community” by Einar Valur
Ingimundarson and Olafur Pétursson
S H S U
was based on international environ-
mental reports and agreements and
envisaged a consistent sustainable bal-
ance between local and global inter-
ests. In “Know-how Communities,”
Þór Sigfússon focuses on the irrel-
evance of distance and location in the
information age and advocates setting
up small, specialist communities
linked up through networks and co-
operating at national and international
level. Sverrir Sveinn Sigurðsson’s
“Protected Nature and the World
About Us” proposes that Iceland’s
pure environmental image in tourism,
food production and other fields can
be strengthened even further interna-
tionally by declaring the biggest na-
ture reserve in Europe. Two other pro-
posals received special commenda-
tion: one which also included the idea
of a European national park (by Anna
Fjóla Gísladóttir, Auðður Sveinsdóttir
and Guððrún Jónsdóttir), and another
focusing on sustainable development
(by Einar Þorsteinn Asgeirsson).
Other recurring themes in the rest of
the entries were regionalization, wide-
spread nature protection and establish-
ment of self-sustainable communities.
PAGE 43 FISHERIES IN ICE-
LAND IN THE YEAR 2018
Guðrún Pétursdóttir, Director of the
University of Iceland Institute of Fish-
eries Studies, begins by pointing out
how far-fetched the present fisheries
situation would have seemed if fore-
cast 20 years ago. For the future, po-
litical developments could have un-
foreseeable effects on markets and
fishing rights. Iceland is likely to con-
tinue its knowhow transfers to under
harvested grounds in developing
countries, with the UN University
Fisheries College in a key role. Greater
environmental knowledge will im-
prove fisheries management but
“green” pressure can be expected to
increase against blatantly industrial
fishing. There will be advances in
processing automation and quite prob-
ably a revolution in preservation tech-
niques. The fish component of ready-
M M A R Y
made seafood meals will become less
important, but aqua culture, instead of
posing a threat to sea fisheries, will
strengthen seafood’s general role and
market position as a food source.
PAGE46 MAREL EXHIBITION
STAND
Interview with industrial designer
Ingólfur Örn Guðmundsson, whose
stand designed for marine electronics
company Marel won a prize at Sep-
tember’s Icelandic Fisheries Exhibi-
tion. Faced with only 60 m2 of floor
space and a number of processing lines
and equipment configurations to dis-
play, he designed a split-level two-
floor stand with a 7 metre tower where
7 TV monitors were mounted. The
overall look of the stand aimed for
lightness, openness and harmony with
its surroundings, and was identified by
stylised Marel logos instead of tradi-
tional overbearing signs. It was pro-
duced from timber and Plexiglas by
Marel at its own workshop, where
Guðmundsson works.
PAGE 49 INTERVIEW WITH
GUÐMUNDUR EINARSSON
Guðmundur Einarsson, born in
Reykjavrk and a graduate in engineer-
ing from Stevens Institute of Technol-
ogy in New Jersey, retraces thirty-five
years in various aspects of the con-
struction business in Iceland. Return-
ing to Iceland to build temporary and
later permanent housing for the US-
manned Defence Force, he was later
involved through a series of compa-
nies in projects including building the
concrete-paved road to Keflavík and
large housing schemes in Reykjavik’s
Breiðholt suburb. He outlines techni-
cal problems faced on various projects
and the solutions he devised, and de-
scribes innovations he made in Icelan-
dic construction, such as introducing
the Lift-Slab technique, building
cranes and domestic-manufactured
dynamite.
PAGE 55 INSTITUTE OF FU-
TURE STUDIES