64° 08' 46" N 21° 55' 58" W

                                                                                       Reykjavík, Iceland

                                                                                                                2021

                                         Municipality of Reykjavík

                                                                      Preliminary design

                          Square & street design and

street furniture design

                                                           0.25 ha

Betula Landscape Architects and

Sigurður Árni Sigurðsson​​​​​​​​​​​​

Transformations of the area: In the last 100 years, there have been many changes on Skólavörðustígur and Laugavegur situated in the center of Reykjavík, and a certain cacophony has become reality in the local architecture and urban planning. The area, which once housed turf houses, now, due to the densification of the last decades, offers chaotic spaces framed by buildings in different architectural styles. The area has developed since then to be part of a network of town paths (horse transport), and later more car traffic to today's pedestrian streets. This proposal offers the possibility of reorganizing the cacophony of the area, connecting the different scales of buildings and public spaces with people in the foreground. Public space as a "City Park": Green areas in the today´s city are one of the key elements in urban design. The green areas offer a wide range of social, public health, economic and environmental functions and therefore play an important role in improving the quality of life of city dwellers. The reinterpretation of parts of Laugavegur and Skólavörðustígur consists in creating a new "language" of public space in Reykjavík. With the combination of the flow of residents through the area and the emergence of new spaces on the pedestrian streets, a great diversity of outdoor spaces will be created. Instead of trying to connect the urban space with the buildings in a classical way, the approach is to create a linear "City Park" that surrounds and frames the "chaos" of the many building styles and scales, so that a coherent design of the area is created. An important element in this approach is the connection of the city with nature, as the new city park provides space for play, social interaction, creativity, business activity and entertainment. The new "City Park" is therefore shaped by it´s surroundings.

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