Eysturoy Municipality’s new Town Hall has been awarded its second architecture prize. The building, which also functions as a bridge and was designed by Faroese architect Ósbjørn Jacobsen, won in the category Institutional Architecture, awarded by Architecture MasterPrize. This follows their award in the Public Building category at the Global Architecture and Design Awards in August.
The Architecture MasterPrize (formerly AAP) is one of the most comprehensive architecture prizes in the world. The winners of Architecture MasterPrize’s awards are selected by an esteemed jury of architects and leaders in the architecture world, which select winners from over a thousand entries from 68 countries in the 41 categories. The Architecture MasterPrize honours designs in the disciplines of architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture with the goal of advancing the appreciation of architecture worldwide.
The jury’s statement read: “Inspired by nature and local building traditions, at first glance the Town Hall in Eystur Municipality appears subtle. Nevertheless, the impact of the house is anything but minimal. Bridges that not only serve to connect destinations but become places in their own right, places where people meet and settle, have their own important space in history. Florence, Prague and Venice all have inhabited bridges that define the cities. In the darkness of the Faroese winter, a truly special building bridges not only the river in the village of Norðragøta but unites two municipalities.”
Ósbjørn Jacobsen, who also designed the multiple award-winning Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, works for Danish architect company Henning Larsen. The international architectural firm, which is based in Copenhagen, also won an Architecture MasterPrize award for Frederiksbjerg School in Aarhus.
A list of all Architecture MasterPrize winners can be seen here.
Words: Levi Hanssen
Originally published on: Faroeislands.fo
Pic: Nic Lehoux
