Harpa Concert Hall: Architecture of Iceland’s Harpa Concert Hall

Harpa Concert Hall is a contemporary building in Reykjavík, Iceland, and home to the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. The Harpa Concert Hall, completed in 2011, doubles as a concert hall and a conference center and houses the Icelandic Opera offices. The 3,000-square-foot building boasts meeting rooms, conference halls, and multiple concert venues.

Harpa Concert Hall sits on the shores of Faxa Bay in Iceland’s capital and is known for its glistening exterior of colored glass. With well-designed acoustics, Harpa Concert Hall has hosted some of the world’s most talented musicians along with homegrown talent.

The city of Reykjavík had been seeking a purpose-built concert hall for over a century before Harpa’s construction.

• Initial plans: The building was meant to be part of an area known as World Trade Center Reykjavík—complete with apartments, restaurants, and more—but the 2008 financial crisis halted these plans, and only the concert hall was realized.
• Architects: Batteríið Architects, an Icelandic architectural firm, and Henning Larsen Architects, a Danish firm, designed Harpa Concert Hall, working alongside the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. Eliasson often works with glass, creates large-scale installations, and employs water and light in his works, which helped the architectural firms imagine the crystalline bayfront facade of Harpa Concert Hall. Piano virtuoso Vladimir Ashkenazy served as a creative advisor.
• Process: Construction started in 2007, was slowed due to the financial crisis, and was completed (thanks to government funding) in 2011. The building was initially dubbed the Reykjavík Concert Hall and Conference Centre but was renamed in 2009 prior to its opening.
• Opening: Ashkenazy unveiled the contemporary building on May 4, 2011, by conducting a special concert; Víkingur Ólafsson, a renowned pianist with absolute pitch, performed as a soloist.
• Architecture awards: The building—which hosts opera performances, concerts, and more—is an icon of Icelandic architecture and the 2013 recipient of the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Award (Mies van der Rohe Award).

Harpa Concert Hall is famed for several noteworthy characteristics:

1. 1. Glass facade: The resplendent front of Harpa Concert Hall brings to mind the basalt columns found throughout Iceland. The south facade features 714 glass panels, each a unique size. The glass bricks are illuminated in the evening, lit by a colorful array of LED lights. The reflective glass presents different colored facades depending on the time of day, evoking the northern lights.
2. 2. Multiple venues: Home to venues of different sizes, Harpa Concert Hall can host epic and intimate concerts. The Kaldalon, the building’s smallest concert hall, can seat 195 patrons, and Norðurljós has a capacity of 450. The two larger venues, Silfurberg and the main hall Eldborg, seat 750 and 1,800, respectively.
3. 3. Premium acoustics: While Harpa Concert Hall is not a traditional opera house (there is no proscenium or curtain), many opera performers sing here because of each hall’s astounding acoustics. Artec Consultants handled the prized acoustics design, which benefits musicians and audiences alike.

Get the MasterClass Annual Membership for exclusive access to video lessons taught by the world’s best, including Frank Gehry, Will Wright, Annie Leibovitz, Kelly Wearstler, Ron Finley, and more.