I & I - 2011, Page 15

15I&I
and can house modest local political meetings all the way up to
large international conferences. This fall it will host the annual
Iceland Airwaves event. It has already booked events a few years
into the future. If you happen to come in during the day, you can
have a cup of coffee or a glass of white wine at the first floor
café. The fourth floor restaurant oversees the harbor, a memo-
rable sight in summer and winter. You might also buy something
at the gift shops.
Harpa has different halls for differing needs: the main concert
hall with seating for 1,600 people; a conference hall with seating
for 750 people, that can be divided in two smaller halls; and a
recital hall with seating for 450 people.
In true Icelandic fashion the building was not quite ready when
guests came flocking to the gala opening night. Honored guests
might get splinters from a temporary staircase or look helplessly
into a huge plastic cover, blocking who knows what. But nobody
seemed to care. It was a night to remember.
August 20 was another night to remember. That was the night
Harpa was officially completed. Of course it still wasn’t quite
done, but there are no more splinters and the fabulous lights in
the tinted windows were seen for the first time.
Harpa is a delight for the eye. And the ear. Especially the ear.
Harpa of 1,600 StringS
Photos this spread by Geir ólafsson and Páll Stefánsson.