Spiladós Concert and Congress Centre (2005)
Schmidt Hammer Lassen - SHL
Facts:
Architect
schmidt hammer lassen architects
Client
Municipality of Reykjavik
Area
60,000 m²
Competition
2005, 2nd prize in restricted international competition
Status
Competition proposal
Contractor
Istak HF, IS and Pihl & Søn A/S
Landscape Architects
SLA Landscape Architects
Awards
2006, commended in MIPIM Architectural Review Future Project Award, Big Urban Projects.
Description:
The organic external envelope of this proposed National Symphonic Concert Hall and Conference Centre cloaks a sequence of complex and curvilinear interior volumes, which in part are inspired by the shape of the symphonic instruments that are found in the venue.
The concept behind the scheme is a large, luminous sculpture located at the edge of the quayside, where the land ends and the sea begins. The building is designed to create a full view over the city and a spectacular view over the harbour and the mountains beyond.
Spiladós means music box, and it houses three music halls of varying sizes located in three corners of the building. The largest is the main concert hall, the second largest is the conference hall, and the smallest is the rehearsal room. The main staircase occupies the fourth corner of the building, and it leads up to the concert hall balconies and continues to the top of the building, where a public terrace offers visitors a 360-degree panoramic view over the magnificent surroundings constituted by the city, the Mountain Esja, the harbour and the Atlantic Ocean.
The main foyer is on the ground floor and functions as a natural extension of the public routing, and concert guests can look out through the large curving glass façade to the quayside and the harbour to the north and east.
The glass façade is constructed out of a mesh of stainless steel, which reflects the continuously changing daylight. During the dark Icelandic winter days, integral lighting dramatically enhances the opulent and dynamic interior, which can be seen as a glowing and organic whole by visitors approaching the building. Curtains of curved glass similar in design to the external façade have been used to create internal divisions. These undulating glass walls are conceived to delineate a series of luminous and sinuous spaces.
The underlying logic of this striking design is to create clear connections between the building and Reykjavik’s city centre and harbour area. Spiladós is part of a master plan linking Reykjavik’s old quarter of Kvosin with the harbour area. The intention is that the whole area should be developed with a mix of cultural centres, commercial buildings and residential areas with the new concert hall and conference centre acting as a powerful catalyst for and symbol of the development.
This building reflects and embodies the drama of Iceland’s varied landscapes, and it is a luminous sculpture with bold, sweeping contours that reflect and evoke the city, the sea and the sky.
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