The proposal submitted by Scotland-based Graeme Massie Architects was named the best entry yesterday in a competition for the best idea of how to develop the Vatnsmýrin neighborhood in central Reykjavík, where the domestic airport is located.
Participants were able to choose whether they would like to keep the airport in the current location or relocate it, and according to the winning proposal, it should be removed from Vatnsmýrin, Morgunbladid reports.
Instead, Graeme Massie Architects propose a densely populated neighborhood with low and diverse buildings and a green area as an extension of Hljómskálagardurinn public park. A larger Reykjavík pond will be the center of the new neighborhood.
Head of the jury and Reykjavík City councilman Dagur B. Eggertsson, who spearheaded the competition, said in his speech at the award ceremony yesterday, that the winning proposal forms a basis for completing the development of downtown Reykjavík.
The Scottish architects have impressed Icelanders before with their ideas; having won a similar competition on the development of the town center in Akureyri, northeast Iceland, in 2005.
