Glass is centre stage

The south facade is made up of nearly a thousand twelve-sided, three-dimensional 'quasi-bricks'. These geometric forms mutate seamlessly into two-dimensional sectional representations on the other facades and inside ceiling. In the interior, the stacking of cell-like and crystal-like structures continues with the flying staircase, platforms and various levels. Reflective surfaces, shadows and colours against the backdrop of the heavy, black internal structure and dark floors connecting inside and out, make the whole interior resemble a giant natural rock formation deep within the Earth's crust. The red-lacquered birch veneer covering all vertical surfaces in the concert hall provides the building with its molten core.

Since the architects were chosen in 2005, much has changed in Iceland, and the building is more a symbol of defiance than success. Fittingly, however, as both a concert hall and as an object of national pride, the building takes one on a journey through another world, reminiscent of scenes in the Icelandic sagas. Whether or not this building delivers on the hopes invested in it by the city of Reykjavik and the people of Iceland, at least it provides them with a place to escape. (Isabelle Priest)