AVS. Arkitektúr verktækni skipulag - 01.06.2005, Page 25

Eaton centre, Toronto
Kringlan, Reykjavík
The Interplay of Land and City
Björn Axelsson, Landscape Architect FÍLA, Director for the Environment in the
Department og Planning and Building
The interplay between land and
city takes on many forms, not
least in the relationship between
the man-made environment and
it’s natural surroundings. What is
it in reality that typifies the Capital
area cityscape and makes the it
different from all other cities?
“The visitor's eye is sharp”. This
applies particularly to the picture
that Danish landscape architect
Stein Höyer, one of the foreign cun-
sultans that were hired in connec-
tion with the last regional plan for
the Capital area, paints of the frame
and look of the Capital area. (One
of the foreign consultants that were
hired in connection with the last
regional plan for the Capital area.)
Stein likes the ring of moun-
tains, which enclose and frame
the city. This, in his eyes, is the
most important aspect of the
city experience, an experience
that makes the Capital area a
special and complete place.
Stein describes the location of
the city at the juncture of land and
sea and the interplay between urban
and natural as a mixture of oppo-
sites and harmonies. This mixture
has deep roots in the cultural herit-
age of the nation and appears in
the urban environment in a special
way. Nature, woven into and around
the city, makes the Capital Area
quite unique in Western-Europe.
According to Stein, the appearance
of the Capital area would not be
very inspiring without these local
features and the urban environ-
ment not very different from the
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