'Harpa Concert Hall and Conference Center'

 Location:
-Opened in August 2011, Harpa is located in Austurbakki 2 101, in the
capital of Iceland, Reykjavik. Plan is part of a large-scale development,
100.000m2 for the eastern port city, the East Harbour Project, reaching
a section alone.
-“… Looks Harpa Reykjavik center, and a major architectural
ambitions has been to couple the lobby with the urban space, and thus
allow the city and building mutual enrichment, says Peer Teglgaard
Larsen Henning Jeppesen Architects. In the dark winter nights, the
audience attending the concert has a view of the city lights, creating
both a visual attraction in the harbor. Seen from the city, at night,
Harpa stands out as a dynamic play of light and shadow… ”
-Located on the border between land and sea, the Concert Hall stands out as a radiant sculpture
reflecting both sky and harbor and the bustling city life.
 Concept:
-Nature is the main source of inspiration for Henning Larsen Architects
to design the building. Thus, four rooms are located next to each other in
closed volumes whose forms recall the volcanic mountains of the
environment.
 Design:
 Facades
-The spectacular facades, designed based on geometric principles,
in which the light and transparency are key elements have been
designed by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliassonen closely
with Henning Larsen Architects and the engineering companies
Rambøll and ArtEngineering GmbH of Germany.
-Like the rest of the construction, the design of the facades is
inspired by nature. In particular, the characteristics of the local
basalt formations have provided inspiration for the geometric
facade structure.
 Materials:
 Facades
-Made of steel and glass with a modular system of twelve-sided geometric filled with a “quasi-
brick”, the building looks like a kaleidoscopic play of colors.
 Quasi bricks
-There are 10 different types of glass used in the four facades of the
building, including three dichroic glass colored yellow, green and
orange, which in turn reflect the colors blue, red and purple. We used
transparent glass, reflective glass, and five different types of reflective
glass, each chosen for its different color tone or degree of reflectivity.
Different types of crystals are arranged in groups to emphasize both
repetitive and modular aspects of the facade and also its strength,
depth and transparency.
 Silicone
-The use of structural glazing sealant based on silicone, has created the
spectacular glass curtain wall, adjusting their unions and giving strength
and secrecy.
-The silicon was the material of choice for secondary bonding insulating
glass units, for their excellent technological results, both in durability and
maintenance, mainly low exposures to UV or extreme weather
conditions.
-The design of the insulating glass unit including an aluminum frame
with U-shaped channel to be embedded with sealant on their side edges,
installed for the purpose of joining the glass panes to the curtain wall through a system of clips.
It was this characteristic related to long-term retention of argon gas, because of a potential loss
of security in the secondary sealant, which led to their use.
-Second, the special architectural design elements demanded units and glass curtain wall
insulation were made in China, so that the need for technical assistance “in situ” during the
manufacturing process was another requirement mandatory.
 Led
-The “quasi bricks” of the south facades contain LED lights in different colors that make Harpa
shine even after the sun set. The brightness and color of each module can be controlled and
adjusted as required.
-There are over 700 rows of LED integrated in the façade of the building, each about 1.5 meters
long. Each device is incorporated in a thin aluminum extrusion designed specifically to match
your specific geometry quasi-brick and mounted rear vertical profile of the steel structure. This
location avoids overwhelm people inside the lobby with an excess of light, while offering the
best distribution of indirect and diffused light. Optical accessories consist of a series of filters,
diffusers and lenses, and developed for the project.
 Projectors
-There are two types of projectors used in the square, Zoom to illuminate paths and Gobo to
create moods with shadow images of nature, images of trees on the pavement and the waves on
the rocks. By changing the images or the use of color filters, Harpa
can change the mood depending on the seasons or events.
 Light
-Depending on the weather and time of day, the play of reflections
and transparency of the facades make explicit the influence of
natural light on the perception of the building by the architects.
-To develop these ideas the team worked with three-dimensional
computer models, finite element modeling, various digital
visualization techniques as well as models and patterns.
-One of the main ideas has been to “dematerialize” the building as a
static entity and let it respond to the surrounding colors, the lights of
the city, ocean and sky glow. Thus, the expression of the facade changes according to the
viewing angle or color variations in landscape.
 MY CRITICISM:
-It is very useful and creative to take their concept from the nature and to shade your building
by facades of the building, to change light according to the weather and time of the day.
NAME: MENNA ALLAH AHMED MOHAMED MORSY
ID: 16P9002
URBANISM AND CLIMATE
DR. AMAL KAMEL