Harpa in Reykjavik: Iceland’s symbol of recovery

Harpa was designed by architect Henning Larsen from Copenhagen together with Batteríið arkitektar in Hafnarfjörður, Iceland.

Artist Ólafur Elíasson designed the glass facade together with the architects. 

Harpa won the Mies van Der Rohes award in 2013. 

The award is the European Union’s and Barcelona based Mies van der Rohe institute’s price for architecture.

It is awarded bi-annually. 

In 2013 350 buildings from 37 European countries competed. The award statement said:

“Emerging on the border between the land and the sea, the crystalline structure captures and reflects the light, promoting a dialogue between the building, the city, and the surrounding landscape. One of the main ideas has been to dematerialise the building as a static entity and let it respond to the surrounding colours of the city lights, ocean and glow of the sky.”

Photo: Nic Lehoux

The concert and opera house Harpa covers 28,000 square metres and there is 43 metres of roof space. 

The building houses three large concert halls and many smaller conference rooms. There are also two restaurants.

The building costs came to 18.6 billion Icelandic kronor, or 120 million Euro.