Workflow: Rhino/Grasshopper, Photoshop, Illustrator.

Mývatn is a region in the north of Iceland. The lake region is home to Iceland’s fourth largest body of water, making up part of the Diamond Circle, a popular travel route in the north of Iceland. Lake Mývatn and the surrounding region provide opportunities for  birdwatching, fishing, natural hot springs with the lava fortress of Dimmuborgir nearby.The site lays east of lake Myvtan with hverfjall to the south-east.

The brief tasked participants with designing a multi-purpose space, primarily functioning as a multi-installation exhibition hall. Additionally it needed to include an office complex with works-spaces, and a fully serviced café that would, as well as a small information center.

The design takes advantage of the site by orienting the building towards hverfjall crater. Conceptually the building is divided into three stacked blocks, the office and cafe block at ground level, the submerged museum , and viewing gallery on the second level framing views to the crater. Circulation within the space is curated via vertical circulation up to the viewing gallery, or below to the galleries. The cafe, information center, and offices are arranged around these formalized spaces. A moss garden drapes the terrace adjacent to the viewing gallery, lowering energy use in the building as well blurring the boundary between landscape and building striving to create a harmonious presence in the landscape. The galleries are submerged to further reduce overall energy by drawing upon the ambient ground temperature. The museum is clad in basalt panels comprised of a mosaic pattern referencing and celebrating the rich geology of Iceland.