Futuristic Visions and the Rise of the Old

To many people, the old centre of Reykjavík has a unique character, with its eclectic mixture of small-scale old wooden buildings and big modernist and postmodernist architecture.

Wood and corrugated iron in a dialogue with concrete and mirrored glass.
Perhaps it is that very heterogeneity that lends old Reykjavík its charm: is the heart of Reykjavík a miscellany of unfinished ideas?
 
This exhibition explores the development and evolution of the oldest part of Reykjavík: we look at a grandiose city plan of ambitious futuristic vision for a motor metropolis with gigantic redevelopment schemes that never got off the drawing board. We see old buildings which have disappeared, and others which have been saved and gained a new lease of life, as well as those which have been adapted to new functions in keeping with social change. And we see how the streets tell the story of a city that is in a constant state of evolution. A never-ending story.
 
The exhibition is the work of students of Applied Studies in Culture and Communication at the University of Iceland.