Landsbankinn Headquarters Wins Icelandic Concrete Award! 🙌
The new headquarters of Landsbankinn, designed by Nordic and C.F. Møller Architects, has been awarded the Icelandic Concrete Award for its original use of concrete.
Nordic (previously Arkthing) and C.F. Møller Architects won the international competition to design the new headquarters for Landsbankinn, Iceland’s largest bank, in 2018. Located in Reykjavik, the building is designed to be more than just a bank — while in harmony with the city, it engages its surroundings and reflects the raw beauty and diversity of the Icelandic nature and Reykjavik’s historic urban fabric.
The design draws inspiration from Iceland’s volcanic basalt rock, its horizontal layers, and caves' and cleft atmospheric qualities. This concept extends from the building’s exterior through to its interior, where concrete plays a key role:
“Concrete has been the main building material for us Icelanders for the past 100 years. It has numerous possibilities, and for this project, we were able to utilize concrete to the fullest. We are very grateful for the recognition of the Concrete Association of Iceland,” says Helgi Mar Hallgrimsson, Partner and Head of Office & Commercial Design at Nordic Office of Architecture.
While the interior is carefully detailed and refined, the façade embraces a raw, rustic aesthetic in basalt. Public functions are placed along the ground floor and the building’s perimeter, activating a new pedestrian street connecting to Harpa Concert Hall and a popular city square often used for gatherings and celebrations.
“Concrete reflects local construction craftsmanship and ensures a robust, earthquake-resistant structure. It also allows for flexible future layouts and, being cast in situ, enables refined detailing that, combined with wood and greenery, creates a sculptural interior,” explain Klaus Toustrup and Jonas Toft Lehmann, partners and architects at C.F. Møller Architects.
Photo: Christopher Lund and Silas Andersen
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