AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.03.2003, Side 49

PUWTACOTAO.OO'CCESð PtANTACOTA<A.OO-N5TAiAOCXS PtANTA COTA *TO,OCVNAMrowA
5. 1. Bílastæði / parking. 2. Aðkoma / access.
I. Inngangur / entry. 2. Aðkomugarður / entry courtyard. 3. Móttaka -sloppar / reception bath robes. (I), 4. Timaskynjun / time perception. 5. Sturtur /
showers. 6. Búningsklefar - sloppar / dressing rooms ö bath robes. (II), 7. Miðskipting / central division. 8. Aðkoma að sundlaugum dagsbirtu /
access to swimming pools of daylight. 9. Aðkoma að sundlaugum rafmagsljósi / access to swimming pools of electric light. 10. Vélarrúm / services.
II. Þvottaherbergi / laundry.
1. Sundlaug dagsbirtu / swimming pool of daylight. 2. Sundlaug rafmagnsljóss / swimming pool of electric light. 3. Leið niður að lóninu / access to
the lagoon.
of their students who came to the
country with completely free hands
as to the choice of projects. He
was enchanted by the „low” light of
the winter sun casting endless
shadows that clung to the land like
a thick liquid. He also discovered
how the weight of the winter
months weighed heavily on people
and how the warm water was
inseparable from their
attitude to life. He had also read
scientific articles describing the
effect of light on psychological well
being and soon got the idea of pro-
posing a treatment centre where
people would come to bathe in
light. All this is intended as preven-
tion and treatment against the sea-
sonal depressive illness of winter.
The basic idea was to work with
the properties of the land and the
light and study the connection
between light and space, space
that is founded on the flow of light.
Many questions arose in connec-
tion with how human beings sense
light and how space changes
depending on the changing of sun-
light. In order to answer these
questions, it was fundamental to
create an environment charged with
light. Pablo decided to locate the
centre where light conditions are
desirable by the outlet of the river
Skeiðará, south of the glacier
Vatnajökull. It would open to the
south, adjacent to a lake that would
reflect and catch the light. In this
place, the source of light is spread;
the southern exposure, lake and
open sky help to open the entrance
of light. The shadows of the land-
scape the north and the pitch-black
sand are covered.
The Light treatment Centre is locat-
ed on an independent platform
resting on high columns so that the
water can flow freely under it and
the landscape is untouched under
the platform, which is clad with
embossed glass tiles. On top of the
platform, there are two types of
swimming pools - those lit both
with natural and electrical light and
those only lit with electrical light,
where visitors enjoy the warm water
outdoors. The platform itself catch-
es the light. Its proportion and
design contribute to the maximum
surface effectiveness when the sun
is at its lowest point, during the
winter solstice. This is even appar-
ent in the shape of the platform,
which gets its form from the shad-
ow of the partitions that reflect the
light, and through that becomes
their anti-shadow. Part of the light
is diverted to partitions that are sit-
uated on the northern part of the
platform. Another part is diverted
through the floor with light wave
fraction to the swimming pools
where it finds an outlet. What
remains of the light is diverted out
through the floor with irregular
reflection similar to what happens in
snow.
Two methods which catch and
compress the light are defined;
through floor partitions and
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