In 2016, PKdM moved into new premises close to the Reykjavík city center turning the page onto a new chapter for the expanding architectural practice, and the beginning of a new partnership.
The office occupies the entire ground floor and part of the first floor of a building that is part of a compact urban plot built in the late 1950s. The main entrance space on the ground level is totally visible from the street through a large glass wall framed with corten steel blades. The entrance door is also clad in corten steel, and the handle is simply composed of five holes cut in the surface of the door itself.
The entrance area is also the main representative space of the office and is dedicated to many different functions: reception for visitors, a small exhibition space, and also a waiting room equipped with furniture designed by PKdM itself. Three main elements characterize this space: the scenographic staircase that connects the two levels of the office, marked on the ground by a long and narrow pool; the huge wall in stretched aluminum panels; and the long steel counter table.
The light stair, made of black hot rolled steel, has been accommodated in a hole cut into the existing slab, and enhances the visual connection between the two floors.
A central box, dedicated to the office stationery and printers, organizes the division between the representative entrance space and the working area, equipped with 18 workstations. Big curtains divide the main working space from the other functional areas, such as the kitchen, closets and meeting room, without interrupting the spatial fluidity of the office. The kitchen is directly connected to an outdoor space, a terrace where employees and clients can enjoy the Icelandic sun during the long days of summer.
The first floor includes another meeting room, a small closet and offices for the firm’s management.
All the accessories of the office, such as furniture, door handles, and bathroom fixtures and sinks, were designed by PKdM, showcasing an artisan-like attention to details that has been a distinctive characteristic of the firm since its beginning.
The dominant color is black: the steel perforated panels of the main wall that forms the background of the working area are black, curtains are black, and the OSB panels of the central box have also been painted in black. The existing concrete structure is visible in its original roughness in the slab of the ceiling, while the finely restored concrete pillars generate a clear spatial rhythm inside the fluid space. The floor is an homogeneous surface of light gray linoleum. The office is generously lit on both sides through the wide glazed walls on the ground and first floor.
from divisare