I have been fascinated with Iceland’s architecture since we first got into Reykjavík and I saw all the corrugated metal and slanting roofs. At home, corrugated metal is reserved for unfancy structures like storage sheds. And California roof lines are different: apartment buildings are usually flat on top, homes sometimes too, and when there is a slope it’s usually a gentle one. But here there is a definite, recurring inverted-V shape across the city’s rooftops.*

{as always, click on images to enlarge, or mouse over for description}

The building exteriors are so minimal that I feel as if the cityscape should look bleak, and yet instead the overall effect is very pleasing. Neat, clean, but far from characterless. 

It helps that there is a lot of color: on the buildings, the roofs, in the public art (I’ll do another post on that sometime) — and when the weather is nice, in the sky above.

I did a little online research into the architecture of Iceland (eventually I got to this page, which I find completely enthralling) and it was very good reading, at least for me, since I get to walk around and see all this stuff! I plan to do another post sometime on the public architecture of Reykjavík — theaters, government buildings, and so on — and yet another one on street art, and probably one on fashion as well. The aesthetic here is so interesting. There are all kinds of European influences, particularly Scandinavian of course (and Iceland was part of Denmark for more than a century, from 1814-1918; did you know? I didn’t), but it’s still very distinct — probably because it is an island, and has such a unique volcanic and oceanic landscape. I’m grateful we get to see it.