Skefjar
The principal requirements for the new office of Skefjar were a discreete public presence and a flexible working environment with areas of differing ambience and functionality.
The office is located on the west side of the fourth floor of a new commercial building in Reykjavík, Iceland. The building has tight symmetrical geometry with relatively closed façades to all sides except the north where a great mirror glass wall overlooks the nearby traffic intersection to the stillness of the ocean and mountains beyond.
Vertical circulation within the building is via a central stair and lift core. On the fourth landing the only indication of Skefjar's presence is a video entry phone. Upon recognition of the caller the wall opens onto a long low-lit corridor with a sleek grey wall opposite the entrance. The wall is sporadically perforated with oblique spy holes and the sculpted forms of door handles. Further along the corridor light spills from a central repository and kitchen area enclosed within walls of profilit glass planks. The caller is greeted at the end of the corridor and may wait there in a booth shrouded with perforated aluminium.
The general office area is located on the north side of the plan remote from the entrance and commanding the magnificent view. Additional closed office spaces are also located in this area behind a second grey wall. Ceilings are white with flush lighting strips and the floor is of square format end-grain oak. Profilit glass window cills capture and reflect the ever-changing sky deep into the interior.
The computer servers, cleaning facilities and lavatories are located in the dark heart of the plan. The latter feature specially commissioned latex rubber lights designed and made by Signy Kólbeinsdóttir.
The meeting rooms are located behind the grey wall of the the entrance corridor. Closer to the core is the sitting room with orange-red curtains and a table made of the same oak blocks as the floor. Next door the main meeting room is more enclosed and has a formal air. The principal walls are of sandblasted concrete or dark grey fabric and the custom furniture is of glass blasted stainless steel and white polypropylene with ambient lighting from a ladder of dimmable fluorescent tubes. All audiovisual and other electronic equipment is concealed within the surfaces of this room and only reveled if and when necessary.
At the entry end of the entrance corridor a final concealed door leads to a balcony where the staff can take a break in the sun.
Client: Skefjar
Architects: Studio Granda
Electrical Engineers: RTS
Environmental Engineers: VGK
Acoustic Consultant: Steindór Gudmundsson
Site supervision: Ferill
Contractor: Heggur
