Architecture of Home

„Architecture of Home” was filmed in 2007, a year of excess in all spheres of Icelandic society, which suffered a total economic collapse a year later. One attribute of this period was an almost avid and very egocentric attitude towards space which became apparent in Reykjavik’s center, where contractors interests governed all other aspects of city planing. The apartments portrayed in the film belong to “the old Union blocks” in Reykjavik, built in the depression during the late 1920’s and 1930’s for workers and designed by the architect of many of Iceland’s most significant official buildings. Today, all the apartments are private-owned, but still The Peoples Housing Society co-op is an active association, honoring its socialist roots in the neoliberal society of Iceland 2007.

These blocks soar like walls in the middle class neighbourhood they stand in, like protecting values that got lost somewhere on the way to prosperity in the Icelandic society. Behind these walls the inhabitants celebrate the small space and its functional nature, sheltered from the chaotic excess outside the walls. By focusing on details in the everyday life the film reveals what we always have in front of our eyes but never pay attention to. If you look close enough, the most ordinary things become extraordinary.


Thórunn Hafstad

Thorunn Hafstad (b. 1978) graduated with M.A. in Visual Anthropology from Goldsmiths University of London 2007. She is a founder an co-editor of the DVD magazine Rafskinna, for which she has made various short films on music and art for the past years. She is also a founder of the artist bookstore and publishing Útúrdúr in Reykjavik. Architecture of Home is her first documentary.

Filmography
- Architecture of Home (Íslensk alþýða) - 2009
A documentary on a beautiful friendship between a building and its people (30 min)