Harpa

Harpa rises on the old harbour front of Reykjavík like a block of crystal washed up on the quay. Designed by Henning Larsen Architects with the Icelandic studio Batteríið, and given its skin by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, the concert hall and conference centre opened on 4 May 2011 and became the first purpose-built concert hall in the Icelandic capital. Two years later it won the European Union's Mies van der Rohe Award for contemporary architecture.

The facade is the reason to come. Eliasson and the architects took their cue from the basalt columns found all over Iceland and built the walls out of a repeating geometric module, the so-called quasi-brick: a twelve-sided cell with rhomboid and hexagonal faces that stacks without gaps, like the crystals of a mineral. On the south side these cells are fully three-dimensional and glazed with coloured filter glass, whose tint shifts from gold to green to violet depending on the angle of the light. In the long northern summer the building is a play of reflections of sea, sky and passing clouds; in the dark months the facade lights up after nightfall and glows over the harbour. Walking through the foyers, you see the structure from inside: a honeycomb of steel and glass that throws coloured shadows across the floors and stairs.

Harpa's history is bound up with Iceland's recent fortunes. Construction began in January 2007, stalled when the country's banks collapsed in the 2008 financial crisis, and the half-finished shell was completed only after the state took over the project. Today it is home to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Reykjavík Big Band. Its largest hall, Eldborg, seats up to about 1,800 people, and three smaller halls, Silfurberg, Norðurljós and Kaldalón, take the rest of the programme. Outside, the building opens straight onto the water of the harbour.

Getting there

Harpa stands at Austurbakki 2 on the harbour in central Reykjavík, a short walk from the old town. Reykjavík Domestic Airport (RKV), about 2.4 km away, handles domestic flights; international flights use Keflavík International Airport (KEF), about 50 km south-west of the city, linked to Reykjavík by airport buses that take about 45 minutes.