Overview
About Harpa Concert Hall
Light, glass and acoustics
Henning Larsen Architects and Batteríið Architects designed the building. Artist Ólafur Elíasson developed the façade with Henning Larsen, using repeated steel-and-glass geometric units that reflect the harbour, city and changing light. Their forms recall Icelandic basalt columns. Artec Consultants designed the acoustics, making the sound inside the halls as deliberate a part of the project as its external appearance.
Construction and the name
Work began in January 2007, stopped in October 2008 and resumed in March 2009 following a decision by the Icelandic state and Reykjavík city authorities. The Iceland Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in Eldborg in May 2011. Chosen through a public naming process, Harpa refers both to the harp and to a spring month in the old Nordic calendar.
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