Ingólfstorg square

From the report:
Design and layout of public spaces and preliminary design of a hotel.

The proposal involved strengthening the setting and highlighting the uniqueness of Austurvöllur, Víkurgarður and Ingólfstorg, and ensuring safe and good flow through the streets and canals.

It is proposed that a literature center be built at Ingólfstorg, which aims to promote interest in literature and promote reading. A bookstore and café are at street level, facilities for discussions and sharing on the upper floors, along with work facilities and small apartments for writers and scholars. The literature center’s larger events would take place in the assembly hall named NASA. The hall has a variety of uses and is used in connection with the hotel and the activities of the literature center.

The current design and implementation of Ingólfstorg creates a setting for rich human life and creates the necessary scope for the city’s dynamic and diverse activities. It is proposed to preserve the square and strengthen its setting.

Hotel and restaurant operations, along with office and residential buildings on the upper floors, are prominent in the area. Tourism is an important industry, but its future must be based on the culture of the community and a diverse human life. Commercial operations in the planning area are an important contribution there, as is the location of a cultural institution, where a basis for dialogue between locals and visitors is created.

One of the goals of the competition is to come up with a good solution for a hotel. It is proposed that the hotel be located in the National Telephone Building. The building will be transformed and expanded so that it can accommodate a 130-room, four-star hotel, with restaurants and shops on the ground floor and bathroom facilities on the roof level. An extension to Austurvöllur and Kirkjustræti contributes to a clear demarcation of Austurvöllur to the west and the creation of street space in Kirkjustræti. The hotel’s main entrance faces Víkurgarður, which gives the hotel an attractive and quiet setting. Víkurgarður has the potential to develop as a sheltered, sunny ornamental park. Creative thinking in the operation of the ground floor around the square could activate the potential that the park offers.