kirkjustraeti studio
kirkjustraeti photography studio, ESALA
This project, in Reykjavik, Iceland, was to create something related to the city and installed within the city or its harbour. This was a further part of the 64°N module I took in my first year of Masters study at ESALA.
I was influenced by Reykjavik Fashion Week, and how it aspired to be on par with New York, Paris, London and Milan. I spoke to local brands and organisers, to understood how important photography and a suitable space for it was, and how needed to fit within the music, fashion and graphic design culture of Iceland. There was a lack of venues capable of accommodating the expanding fashion week.
I noted there were no suitable venues in the "traditional" heart of the city. I chose a site in this administrative centre in order to create a building that brought this new culture, and boost to the economy, to the forefront for all Icelanders.
I decided that for the 51 weeks of the year it was not fashion week it should engage in that creative world, so I designed a building that was primarily a photography studio and could transform into a performance venue during the fashion week. This had the added bonus of combating the lack of photography spaces. It was clad in mirror to reflect the administrative heart that it sat in, and ultimately reference Iceland's origins as it began to compete with the rest of Europe and New York in the fashion and design worlds.
