Hafnarfjörður Parish Hall + Music School Design 11, Diagram - Formal Entries/Path of the Choir/Sound of Brass for the Harbor
- Title:
- Hafnarfjörður Parish Hall + Music School Design 11, Diagram - Formal Entries/Path of the Choir/Sound of Brass for the Harbor
- Collection:
- John Clair Miller
- Designer:
- John Clair Miller
Olafur Mathiesen
- Project Owner:
- Municipality of Hafnarfjörður and the Parish of Hafnarfjarðarkirkja
- Date:
- 1990
- Site:
- Strandgata, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland
- Location:
- Hafnarfjördhur, Gullbringusysla, Iceland
Strandgata, Hafnarfjörður, Iceland - Country:
- Iceland
- ID Number:
- JCM_HAF_011
- File Name:
- JCM_HAF_011.jpg
- Project Title:
- Hafnarfjörður Parish Hall + Music School Design 11
- Project Type:
- Competition Entry
- Culture:
- American
- Style/Period:
- Contemporary
- Work Type:
- diagram
- Materials/Techniques:
- graphite
paper - Subject:
- music schools
- Image View Description:
- Diagram - Formal Entries/Path of the Choir/Sound of Brass for the Harbor
- Description:
- Design an addition to the existing Lutheran Church of Hafnarfjorður that includes a Parish Center and a Community Music School. The Parish Center should have direct connections to the Church and include an entrance foyer and coat space, a chapel, a reception/office complex for a priest, a great hall [with projection facilities, adjacent food preparation facilities, movable chair/table storage and restroom facilities], two meeting/class rooms, and a choir rehearsal room. The Music School should have a separate entrance and foyer and include seven classrooms, music theory classroom, instrumental and piano practice rooms, large-ensemble practice room, faculty area with offices, work room and a lounge area [with food preparation facilities], large instrument storage area, and restroom facilities. On-site parking.
The design proposal centered on an urban place at the eastern edge of the town center that opened onto the harbor. A portion of the original lava field was excavated and left exposed in the entrance courtyard and would have accommodated a Garden of Wind Flutes. The varying elevations of the lava field were measured by the intervening grid of steel windpipes that would capture the prevailing winds off the ocean to produce sound. The entrance courtyard and all major interior spaces have a view of the harbor and the sea beyond. A continuous walkway and south- facing skylight with a reflecting wall [capturing the low winter light] that extends the full length of the project, organizes the complex. A public elevated walkway passes over the Music School and ends in a circular stair which connects the adjacent residential area to the harbor. The music classrooms are based on the form and organization of traditional Icelandic vernacular turf houses. Extending from the classrooms is a garden in the shape of a keyboard – Garden of Keys. The performing space, on roof of the tower, overlooks the harbor and acts as an acoustical beacon, ‘songs for the sailors,’ for incoming ships and as a performing platform for the community brass band, ‘brass sounds for the towing tow barges,’ as well as a ‘harbor light.’ - Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in the John Clair Miller Collection (here presented as “Projects”, “Competitions” and “Collages”) and the John Clair Miller Image Collection of Twentieth-Century Architecture in Iceland are protected by copyright, and the copyright holder is their creator/photographer, John Clair Miller. Images in the John Clair Miller Collection were created between 1962-2007, and were digitized by Cornell University Library. Images in the John Clair Miller Image Collection of Twentieth-Century Architecture in Iceland date from 2001-2007, and were digitized from 35mm slides by Cornell University Library in 2016. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.