On my recent trip to Iceland, I had some time to explore the Hafnarhús - an old industrial building down by the harbour which is now a modern art museum / gallery.
Hafnarhús is located in the oldest part of Reykjavik, where the town’s boats and first docks lay. The building was erected in the 1930s and at the time it was one of the largest buildings in the country.
It was renovated by Studio Grandi architects in 1998-2000 to house Reykjavík Art Museum.
I was drawn there by one particular exhibit which had previously been Iceland's entry for the
Lavaforming is a proposal on how the brutal force of lava can be turned into a valuable resource, capable of lowering atmospheric emissions through its future use as a sustainable building material.
The global construction industry is responsible for nearly 40% of annual CO₂ emissions, with cement production alone accounting for approximately 8% of that total. The sector is also a major consumer of raw materials, using over 50 percent of all extracted resources worldwide. Heavily reliant on concrete, steel, and other high-impact materials, today’s building practices are environmentally costly and increasingly unsustainable.
For perspective, between 2011 and 2013, China used more cement than the United States did in the entire 20th century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, a striking measure of how unsustainable current practices have become. This striking comparison underscores the profound impact of traditional construction materials on the planet, which continues to occur at an unsustainable scale.
Lavaforming proposes a radical alternative.
The exhibition tells the story of a future society that has learned to tame lava flows, utilise them, and thus turn a local threat into an opportunity for creativity.
It was developed by s.ap architects.
Here's some text from the exhibit:The global construction industry is responsible for nearly 40% of annual CO₂ emissions, with cement production alone accounting for approximately 8% of that total. The sector is also a major consumer of raw materials, using over 50 percent of all extracted resources worldwide. Heavily reliant on concrete, steel, and other high-impact materials, today’s building practices are environmentally costly and increasingly unsustainable.
For perspective, between 2011 and 2013, China used more cement than the United States did in the entire 20th century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, a striking measure of how unsustainable current practices have become. This striking comparison underscores the profound impact of traditional construction materials on the planet, which continues to occur at an unsustainable scale.
Lavaforming proposes a radical alternative.
What if buildings could be cast from lava itself and remelted, shaped, and cut into strong, glass-like forms? Iceland, with its abundant basalt and active geology, provides a natural testing ground for this vision. Through real-world experiments, the team has demonstrated how lava and volcanic rock can be transformed into durable, low-impact building elements, suggesting an entirely new material supply for architecture rooted in place and geology.
Backed by real-world experimentation, the team has created bricks and columns from basalt and lava flows, natural materials Iceland has in abundance. These components are not just conceptual art pieces. These components are not just conceptual art pieces; they point to a viable, hyper-local material system rooted in sustainability and circular design.
“This project is about shifting perspective,” says Pálmadóttir. “We imagine the year 2150. What would it mean to live in a lava-built city? What would that change about architecture, about how we relate to the land and to each other?”
Backed by real-world experimentation, the team has created bricks and columns from basalt and lava flows, natural materials Iceland has in abundance. These components are not just conceptual art pieces. These components are not just conceptual art pieces; they point to a viable, hyper-local material system rooted in sustainability and circular design.
“This project is about shifting perspective,” says Pálmadóttir. “We imagine the year 2150. What would it mean to live in a lava-built city? What would that change about architecture, about how we relate to the land and to each other?”
And part of the video that was made to explain how robots would work with the magma to produce building materials.
This is a wonderful creative concept... and made with a creative team of people.
I really wanted a poster of the exhibition, or some other visuals but they didn't have any for sale...
Comments