Stunning Nordic town hall is part of the landscape

Up until 2009, Leirvík and Gøta were individual towns in the Faroe Islands separated by a streaming river. Today, they’re united under the municipality of Eystur, and the two sides of the river are connected by what is no doubt one of the most attractive town halls ever to host a board meeting.

Henning Larsen Architects designed the Eysturkommuna Town Hall as a central meeting place for the self-governing archipelago. The shard of a building juts across the narrow river like a bridge, casting an angular silhouette against the Nordic backdrop.

Nic Lehoux via Dezeen

Inside, the architects designed the building to blend with its natural surroundings. The black exterior is both hugely on trend and a perfect match for nearby mountains. The ceilings are designed with thin wood panels and the main meeting spaces have floor-to-ceiling windows that look out onto the water.

Nic Lehoux via Dezeen

Henning Larsen explains that it looked to existing Faroe Island architecture for inspiration when designing the building. “A central theme in traditional Faroese architecture is the blurred line between nature and building, the fact that the spectator has difficulties distinguishing where the landscape ends and the building begins,” the architects told Dezeen.

Nic Lehoux via Dezeen

In the case of Eysturkommuna Town Hall, they mean that quite literally. On top of the building there’s a slanting green pathway that serves as a footbridge connecting one side of the river to the other.

Nic Lehoux via Dezeen

Via: Dezeen