At its best, the hotel room represents the essence of the human dwelling: It must satisfy basic requirements regarding practical needs and comfort. In addition it should provide to the user a feeling of temporary ownership and well being for the duration of the stay. Which architectural tools are at our disposal to make the hotel and its facilities a good temporary home?

The site and area chosen for the studio is a rural situation on Iceland. Bardardalur is located in the central northern part of Iceland and runs from the fjord Skálfandi, east of Akureyri, right into the central highland lava plateau Sprengisandur. The studio project area is around Svartá, a tributary to Skjálfandafljot in Bardardalur. This is an area with close proximity to some of the main routes trafficed by tourists. The program will primarily cater to these groups, but also to the many others who have an interest in the natural and cultural attractions to be found in the area.

The main goal of the studio is to develop architectural strategies and solutions for temporary accomodation for travellers and tourists. An important part of this will be to facilitate good opportunities for experiencing local nature and culture. Iceland has an abundance of spectacular nature, but so far very little has been done to prepare these attractions through planning and design of the interventions that modern mass tourism require. In a rural community environment relying mainly on sheep farming for its livelyhood it is demanding to find the right balance between new interventions and the existing situation, while at the same time satisfying basic needs for comfort and organization. The predominant feature of the natural landscape is the stark contrast between the almost desertlike volcanic terrain and the exuberant fertility surrounding the waterways. In addition to the regular tourist, the area can be expected to attract ornithologists, geologists, glaciologists, biologists, recreational fishers, historians, hikers, offroad bikers, horseback riders, etc.

Iceland has a rich building tradition and a closer study of this will be part of the preliminary phase. At the time of settlement the climate was considerably warmer and Iceland has had significant access to timber. With cooling, these forests have disappeared and the timber in the remaining vernacular architecture is mostly driftwood, mainly larch from Siberia. Today, global warming again opens for planting forest and Iceland is in need of a strategy to direct the development of this potential. The studio aims to reintroduce Norwegian timber technology by showing examples of a modern timber architecture with a potential for further development as the resource basis slowly changes.