2nd Day in Iceland

I spent today walking around town, visiting the local Alto building and the National Museum for a dose of culture, then doing the bus tour thing around the "Golden Circle". Which was very cool despite the hype. Tour included a high through the lava fields... and there is a *lot* of lava here!

We also stopped at a couple of waterfalls, one little, one really really BIG. Not much more to say about all that really...

One of the places we visited was another rift site between the continental plates. I've decided that I want to do an architecture project that is a "rift" building. You know those slot canyons where the light filters down from above? I've seen some examples of what I am thinking, the Alto building I visited here today has that feel to it. Also the library at Viikki with it's slots that radiate out through the circular form. Or the entry hall of Stephen Holl's Kiasma art museum in Helsinki.

One of the last architects who came to talk to us in Finland was a guy named Juhani Pallasmaa. He was pretty amazing to listen to... he has written extensively and read a lot of philosophy which he then integrates into his architecture. I bought a couple of books before I left, one called "Through the Eyes of the Skin" which I brought with me. It is a smallish book, about how buildings need to be designed as a total sensory experience rather than just a visual one. And how the use of computers in design has tended to exacerbate our focus on the visual aspects.

Anyhow, this is pretty cool stuff. Imagine a rift building with a waterfall somewhere inside it...? You see the light coming down, you hear the water, you feel the moisture...

Time to come home! I have one more full day here tomorrow which I plan to spend in Reykjavik. There was an option to do another long bus tour out along the south coast, but to get anywhere else really interesting requires spending the entire day on the bus. I think I'll pass.

More Photos Here! :^)