NORTHERN LIGHT
Encountering the Northern Light is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all the visitors. Even though the Northern Lights are visible for eight months a year, the chance depends on the weather, solar activity, and the visitors' luck. To create an unforgettable experience of the Northern Light, this guest house not only accommodates a skylight through which the visitors observe the Northern Light but also functions as a visual amplifier reflecting an illusionistic vista on it, providing an integrated experience of indoor and outdoor. This fantastic Mise en Scene will be achieved with the fluid form and transparent materiality of the building. Given the site condition-proximity to the coast and untainted natural environment, this new guesthouse takes a site-respective and environmental-friendly strategy by taking flexible and temporary structure. The host unit is situated on a linear guide rail system while the guest units sit on the wheel system. Each system has unique resource supplysystem. The strategy allows a minimum building footprint as well as a flexible operation by season and climate.
Flexible Lens
This new guest house functions as an expandable lens to observe the stunning landscape of the site as well as Northern Lights, projecting a fantastic illusion on the surface. Retractable rail system allows flexible guesthouse plan seasonally along with the minimum building footprint.
Natural Beauty
The form of the house reflects the topography of Iceland. Inspired by various shapes of weathered Columnar Joint, the steel frames of the house have diverse sectional geometry, which creates unexpected distortion on the surfaces connecting two consecutive frames, which visualizes the beautiful vista.
Thermal Comfort
Learning through the greenhouses of Iceland, the building achieves a thermal comfort through two strategies: geothermal heating system and high-performing insulation material. The ETFE Sheet plays a key role in insulating the guest house, creating visibility of the facade.