Down to Earth
Myvatn, Iceland

2020
The Iceland Cave Tower competition proposal
collaboration with Lea Weise

How to capture, explain, and show a relationship between Icelandic powerful nature and architecture? Its uniqueness is in its scale, proportions, shapes, and patterns. The mountains shaped by waterfalls, rivers, even clouds could become an emotional connection between nature and buildings.

Iceland is a trendy destination for tourists - nowadays, more and more people are coming to this magical island. We could even say that sometimes there are too many people, which leads to a lack of more profound experience.

Is it possible to create a possibility for people to experience the uniqueness of Icelandic nature without destroying it? How can we go back to reconnection between humans and nature?

The project's location is very diverse with a solid local context. All of the elements in the area influence the site: volcanos, tectonic plates, Myvatn lake, lava fields, wetlands - an essential ecosystem for the whole country.

We wanted to create a path, a journey that recreates an individual experience for a user with our concept. The concept for the tower is based on a gradient - from loud to silent - the first floor is open for everyone, and when one is moving up, there are fewer and fewer people.

Vernacular architecture has exciting lessons for the concept of circular society. Vernacular architecture represents accrued wisdom about local traditions in construction and how the climate and the natural environment affect the shape of buildings. Designing for circular societies focuses on sustainability and reuse – which has always been the main principle of a locally built environment.

Sustainability in this project means using local knowledge, focusing on local materials and things already well known. Aiming for this, we focused on analyzing Icelandic lighthouses for their heights, traditional turf houses for the building technique and materials, and greenhouses for their transparency and lightness.