Byggðarhorn Búgarður 46
Selfoss
The design of the residential house and the adjoining workshop was guided by a desire to merge the owners’ vision of a future home with the expansive panoramic landscape surrounding the site, while shaping the workshop as a purpose-built structure tailored precisely to the owner’s craft and daily operations. The process became an exploration of how architecture can hold both the intimacy of domestic life and the practical needs of daily work, without compromising the calm presence of the landscape that frames the site.
Rather than separating functions into isolated wings, the interior is subtly divided by orchestrating views. Openings towards the landscape create natural transitions between spaces, providing privacy without fragmentation. Each room retains a sense of togetherness while still allowing the inhabitants to withdraw into their own zones of calm.
The building features two entrances, reflecting the owners’ wish for both a main entrance and a secondary one. The traditional Icelandic “back entrance” has been reinterpreted and elevated — not merely a utility point, but a welcoming threshold that carries the same architectural intention as the formal entry.
The form of the house bends and settles into the landscape, responding to both the outward views and the owners’ patterns of use. At the centre, a strong spatial core anchors the home: a place that connects all internal rooms and also reaches outward. A sheltered courtyard opens to the south beneath an extended roof canopy, linking the living room and a quiet seating area at the heart of the home. This exterior room becomes part of the interior rhythm, a protected space that holds light, warmth, and the ever-changing atmosphere of the surrounding land.
