Harpa (concert hall)

Harpa - Tónlistar -og ráðstefnuhúsið í Reykjavík ( Harpa - Concert and Conference House in Reykjavík ) is the Icelandic name for the 2011 newly opened opera house and concert hall in the capital, Reykjavík. The building houses both the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera and applies to the designed by the artist Olafur Eliasson facade as an architectural attraction and new landmark of the capital.

History

With investors money bankers planned the construction of a magnificent concert hall and convention center as a symbol for Icelandic Art, and economic power; known architects, specialists in acoustics, and artists were required for the construction of the cultural center. But the financial crisis of 2008 brought the project to a halt; the investor group went bankrupt and highly indebted banks were nationalized. The shell created by then passed into the public domain; the Harpa Opera and Congress Centre is now run by Portus, a company which is part of the Austurhöfn -TR ( East Harbour Comp. ) to 54 percent of the Icelandic government and 46 percent of the city Reykjavík. It was built by the Danish architectural firm Henning Larsen in collaboration with the Icelandic architectural firm Batteríið and the artist Olafur Eliasson. The opening concert was held with the 9th symphony of Beethoven on May 4, 2011; was officially opened in the Harpa Center on August 20, 2011 at the Menningarnótt ( Reykjavik Culture Night ).

Naming

The name was determined in a competition. Through a call to the more than 4,000 proposals were submitted, they were looking for an Icelandic name that could be easily expressed in other languages. Woman's name Harpa is selected ( = harp). According to other sources, the name goes back to the first month of the Icelandic summer in the old Icelandic calendar. The month was named Harpa, but it is uncertain whether the month was actually named after the musical instrument. In any case, earlier this month was solemnized because of the start of summer was in the far northern Iceland a special meaning.

The logo of the concert and congress center make reference. It consists of twelve tuning forks arranged in a ring that will stand for the twelve months of the year. At the same time the logo is to represent both the shape of the sun and also indicate a snowflake.

The four colors in the logo (silver gray, blue violet, fiery red and golden yellow ) stand for the four large function rooms in the house.

• FireRed for Eldborg (Fire Castle Fire boiler, the crater of a volcano )
• Silver gray for Silfurberg (Silver Rock, a crystal called Iceland Spar, a birefringent calcite, probably named after the silver-gray rock outcrop ( Silfurberg ) on the south side of the Ingólfsfjall )
• Blue Violet for Norðurljós ( Aurora Borealis, known celestial phenomenon of the Northern Lights )
• Yellow Gold for Kaldalón ( Cold lagoon, Kaldalón, a glacier bay in the West Fjords, where the composer Sigvaldi Kaldalóns lived for some time and then named after the bay. )

These names also suggest that served in the planning of the building as a source of inspiration, the Icelandic nature as it is seen even in the exterior architecture.

Buildings and features

The 43 -meter high building consists of two slightly offset cuboid Share with oblique edges. It contains inside a large concert hall with 1800 seats and three smaller concert halls and a conference center with interpretation booths for up to 9 languages. New Yorker Acoustic planners have developed a fully automatic system that can be adjusted to optimize any kind of music, among other things with the help of Filzwänden and flaps.

What is striking is the envelope of the building, which was designed by the Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, inspired, designed by the varying tones of his native island. It consists of a honeycomb-like structure of dichroic glass that reacts according to the weather on the changing daylight colors.

" This color effect glass leaves by certain wavebands of light, others are reflected, so that changes the color of the glass depending on weather conditions and viewing angles. Caused this vibrant play of colors by interference layers, firmly adhering metal oxide layers that are applied to a glass plate in the dip-coating method. At Reykjavík Concert Hall, the special glass was yellow in the variants, orange and green are used. These colors can be seen in the direct examination, in the reflection appear the respective complementary colors. "

Harpa from the Hallgrímskirkja from

Overlooking the harbor

Mirrored ceiling and right double glass facade

Rise

Criticism

Not only because of the high construction costs ( approximately € 160 million, the loan will be paid off after 35 years ) and the modern architecture, the building was initially criticized by the population, but also because of its location. It is located at the old harbor on the waterfront and takes account of its size the inhabitants of the city light and restricts the view of the city to the sea and the mountains beyond. In the meantime, however, the Harpa is a symbol of the future, it leaves Iceland hope to overcome the economic crisis.

Awards

• World Architecture Community Award from the World Architecture organization, 2011.
• Arkitekturmässan Award, 2011 (The award for the best public space in a building in the northern European countries).
• Mies van der Rohe Award ( European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture ), 2013.