Athleticacademi

Narratives

Athletic education in Reykjanes

The Ã�þróttaakademia in the town of Reykjanes is the first part of a prospective campus, focusing on exercise and health. The building’s deliberate appearance, where cubist forms are arranged in undecorated minimalism, contrasts with details such as the design of the mullions. The composition of the clean surfaces of the outer walls hold tantalizing elegance, challenging the gravity of the rust-red corten steel with shining white concrete. A heavy stone wall along the north side of the building rises from the landscape beyond the main volume of the gymnasium, relegating the service areas contained within to the earth. The appearance of the house is calm and quiet, rather serious and closed to the outside, except where the students follow the stone wall and pergola through the glass wall into the foyer.
As one enters the foyer, one is faced with an opposite impression. Through a large glass wall, bright light is thrown into the double height hall, and the attention is automatically directed deep into the building, where the sound and activity of athletic endeavors beckon through a movable glass wall reaching for the ceiling. The visual connection entices transparency, lightness, and strong sense of intimacy which characterizes the whole interior space. The entrance is composed of a series of transparent screens, revealing that the interior is not divided but open and interconnected, emphasizing the primary concept that the classroom and the gymnasium are both integral in the education received here. In this endeavor, the learning space of the classroom must be connected with the learning space of the gymnasium. To that effect, the classrooms all have immediate connections with the gym. Though they are not opening directly into the athletic space, the movable walls and open hallway on the second floor allow the classrooms to be part of the open space of the gymnasium.
The intention is to stimulate learning through a constant motion and interconnectivity. The learning spaces have movable walls to allow them to both open into the public spaces and to change size as the needs of classes change. The students meet, socialize, study and eat in the foyer, but the classes can also spill into it to include more people or to provide more active learning space. In a like manner, by opening the space, the activity of the common space can be extended to an unused classroom or two.
A seemingly floating wood stair, framed in glass and steel extends boldly out into the foyer from a light walkway that separates the foyer from the gym. Here the eye is struck confidently with raw concrete in opposition to the delicate wooden panels and surfaces painted in strong red colors. The light from outside plays an important role in the appearance of the space; in the evening sun, shadows are projected from mullions, railings, and the activity of people, so everything inside seems to dance before one’s eyes. The building has been a success and the academy is planning an expansion, as well as more buildings.

Educator Narrative