Iceland and Architecture? at DAM the German Architecture Museum. From the history of Icelandic architecture to the urban planning sins of the boom.

What kind of architecture would you find in a country that is not home to such traditional building materials as wood or brick, but where houses are built with grass and clay?

To which heights does concrete construction spiral up to in Iceland? How does the fast financial emergence of Iceland reflect in the architecture – likewise its equally sudden demise?

These and other questions are addressed by an exhibition at the Deutschen Architekturmuseum DAM in Frankfurt. Jovis Verlag published the catalogue for the exhibition. All of the included interviews are completed by photographer Guðmundur Ingólfsson (*1946), who stands in the tradition of the American New Topographics movement.

In the catalogue, architect and publisher Peter Armansson talks about the history of Iceland architecture from turf houses, concrete buildings and new topographical tendencies as well as the founding of the first school of architecture in Iceland, where he is a lecturer.

Hjalmar Sveinsson, Head of the Planning Department in Reykjavik uncovers the sins of city planning during the boom and elaborates on the hefty legacy left behind by this approach to city planning, the ideology of which was distinguished by the market's superiority over public legislation. The financial crisis not only destroyed the real estate market but it also diminished the available resources for the cultural sector. The nation's singular collection of architecture had been held by the Reykjavik Art Museum (Hafnarhus) and was recently closed, its curator left behind without a job.

Iceland and architecture?
Curator: Peter Cachola Schmal
1st of October to 13th of November 2011

Deutsches Architekturmuseum DAM, Frankfurt am Main
www.dam-online.de