Vacation house Árborg in South Iceland wins its third international design award 1909

Icelandic architecture firm PK Arkitektar received this week the Dedalo Minosse International Prize for the design of vacation house Árborg. This is the third international design award going to the firm for Árborg. Previously it had recieved The Architizer A+Awards and an honourable mention by the Rethinking The Future Awards.

The 256 square meter (2755 sq. ft.) vacation house is located on the banks of the Hvítá river, a two-hour drive east of Reykjavik. The site is a moss-covered hill with a view over a quiet bend in the glacier-formed river. 

The location shapes its design heavily. “It has everything to do with the landscape. The house is built into a hill, opening from one side to panoramic views towards the river, explains Fernando de Mendonça from the PK Arkitektar design team, which includes besides him Pálmar Kristmundsson, Dagni Wiest, María Stefánsdóttir and Sóley Brynjarsdóttir

Asked if the designers got full artistic freedom Fernando says that the client was very much involved in shaping the building. “Yes, there is definitively a lot of him in the house.”

Facing the river The exterior is a broken surface of light grey fair-faced concrete. The gravel from the riverbed is blended into the concrete, and is revealed in the broken surface. It harmonizes the outside walls with the moss of the surrounding landscape.

 

From top of the hill The approach is from the top of the hill. 

Árborg vacation house Leftover moss from the footprint of the house covers the roof. It was kept aside and regularly nursed during the building process, before being reinstalled on the roof. 

Photos by Rafael Pinho and Helge Garke

Icelandic architecture firm PK Arkitektar received this week the Dedalo Minosse International Prize for the design of vacation house Árborg. This is the third international design award going to the firm for Árborg. Previously it had recieved The Architizer A+Awards and an honourable mention by the Rethinking The Future Awards.

The 256 square meter (2755 sq. ft.) vacation house is located on the banks of the Hvítá river, a two-hour drive east of Reykjavik. The site is a moss-covered hill with a view over a quiet bend in the glacier-formed river. 

The location shapes its design heavily. “It has everything to do with the landscape. The house is built into a hill, opening from one side to panoramic views towards the river, explains Fernando de Mendonça from the PK Arkitektar design team, which includes besides him Pálmar Kristmundsson, Dagni Wiest, María Stefánsdóttir and Sóley Brynjarsdóttir

Asked if the designers got full artistic freedom Fernando says that the client was very much involved in shaping the building. “Yes, there is definitively a lot of him in the house.”

Facing the river The exterior is a broken surface of light grey fair-faced concrete. The gravel from the riverbed is blended into the concrete, and is revealed in the broken surface. It harmonizes the outside walls with the moss of the surrounding landscape.

 

From top of the hill The approach is from the top of the hill. 

Árborg vacation house Leftover moss from the footprint of the house covers the roof. It was kept aside and regularly nursed during the building process, before being reinstalled on the roof.