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    • Eystur Town Hall

      Located in the breathtaking Faroese landscape, the 750m² green roofed town hall of Eysturkommuna completely merges with nature. The town hall bridges the river in the village of Norðragøta.

      • Location:
        • Norðragøta, The Faroe Islands
      • Area:
        • 750 m² / 8,070 ft²
      • Year:
        • 2018
      • Status:
      • Client:
        • Eysturkommuna
      • Services:
      • Team:
        • Spenn
        • KBH
        • SMJ
        • Veri-Con
      • Photos:
        • Nic Lehoux
      • Show more
  • Before the fishing industry made its entry with a large and important factory, the attractive local beach was the natural gathering point on special occasions. According to plan, the town hall is the first of more buildings to reclaim public life in the center of Norðragøta, and thus, the Town Hall Eysturkommuna takes on the important task of establishing a space that will revive the local community. The terraces and roof are open to the public, people can come here to have picnics and swim in the river. Eysturkommuna covers five different settlements of total 2,000 inhabitants.

  • Inspired by History

    Spend time on the islands and you quickly realize that buildings in the Faroes have no front or back. The dramatic topography puts every structure on a stage of its own, each façade – roof included – starkly visible in perpetual 360. But Eystur Town Hall, slung low across a small stream that long stood as the marker between the villages, is nearly invisible.

    Unexpectedly, given the abundance of possible natural references, Eystur’s inspiration comes primarily from historical tradition. A field in Norðragøta's center long served as an informal agora but was paved over in the mid-twentieth century to make room for processing plants for the local fishing industry.

    It is only when you look up from the riverbank, back turned to the bay behind, that the building reveals itself in full.

    The single-story ash black structure makes its way crookedly over the water like a piece driftwood cast far up the shore. The asymmetrically pitched roof slopes lightly down towards either riverbank to let locals pass over its turf to move between the towns. When night falls, the floor-to-ceiling windows on the north and south facades backlight interior movement like puppets in a shadow play.