Hafnarfjörður, Island

MARELD and Kjellgren Kaminsky won the international competition regarding regeneration of the harbour area in Hafnarfjörður, just outside Reykjavik.

On the borderline between the harbor area existing activities such as the fishing industry, the entry of cruising ships and other businesses has been identified as an area where new synergies can emerge.

MARELD, together with an international team of architect and project leaders, developed proposals for a new series of public spaces and activities which function as development catalysts for the whole area. The challenges lie in creating new synergies in harmony and in context with the existing harbor and the prevailing townscape. We want to accomplish this by creating a structure which combines activities, typologies and social nodes. New safe and attractive paths in human scale provide visitors and tourists access to the more industrial parts of the harbor, which today are hard to reach. The interconnected paths invite the visitors to a string of memorable spaces, experiences and environments.

The scheme includes new housing and businesses, a harbor square, an old ship wharf, a marina and a Spa-Tower. The Tower is a social node and a landmark in the middle of the harbor.

Master planning proposals for Hafnarfjörður have been carried out in close collaboration with Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture & Jvantspijker Rotterdam.

CATEGORY: Competition, shared 1st prize
LOCATION: Hafnarfjörður, Island
YEAR: 2O18
CLIENT: Hafnarfjörður, Hafnarfjarðarhamn and the Architectural Society of Island
ARCHITECT: Kjellgren & Kaminsky