Hard to believe, perhaps (given my two previous posts), but I have been holding back on one aspect of my trip to Iceland because I wrote an article about it — just published in Newsweek International. It’s about Harpa, the new the Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Center.
Harpa (pictured below) has its grand opening on Saturday. Along with the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, performers include Chinese acrobats, a wide selection of pop, jazz and classical artists, and outdoor events on the plaza. In the fall, Gustavo Dudamel will conduct, Bjork will sing, Larry King will attempt to be funny (he has a new comedy routine), and many others are booked into one of four halls in Harpa. They range in size from 195 seats to 1,600 seats.
But I am guessing that RCA readers are more interested in the visual aspects, and would like to know that the facade was designed by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. As I wrote for Newsweek:
…it’s made of more than 10,000 glass windows that reference the columnar basalt common in Iceland’s terrain. The south façade is [Eliasson’s installation], a double wall of glass pieces that catches the sunlight and acts like a prism, creating colorful blocks of light on Harpa’s floor and walls. The interior is intentionally spare, suggesting to visitors that they look out at the surrounding sea, mountains, and city–an especially pleasant activity from the multitiered bar descending along the south façade [pictured, top].
That lighting effect is hard to photograph, but it’s real. I’ve seen it. As for the architecture, well, you might like to know that Harpa recently was awarded a World Architecture prize. The building sits across a highway from Reykjavik’s center, which is older and quainter in style, and thus it does not fight the city’s character. Overall, I liked it.
Harpa was partially open when I was there, but it was offering some evening concerts, and I sampled one — two singers accompanied by a pianits — in the smallest concert hall. The acoustics seemed fine to me. I will look forward to hearing what the critics say.
Photo Credits: © Judith H. Dobrzynski