Harpa

Henning Larsen Architects won an international competition in 2005 to design Reykjavík's concert hall, collaborating with Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson on its most distinctive feature: a steel-framed facade of interlocking, differently coloured geometric glass panels, directly inspired by the hexagonal basalt column formations found along Iceland's coastline. Built between 2007 and 2011 and opened on 4 May 2011, the 28,000-square-metre building holds four halls behind its glowing facade, positioned to look straight out over the sea and surrounding mountains.