Nissen Richards Studio, together with local Icelandic design partner SP(R)INT STUDIO, has created the permanent exhibition, interior and graphic design for The Gígur Visitor Centre in Iceland, along with the centre’s welcome area, café and shop.

The brief for the project was to create a new permanent exhibition relating to the Mývatn nature reserve and the northern highlights of Vatnajökull National Park. Nearby Lake Mývatn and its surrounding wetlands are a significant designated nature reserve, renowned for their birdlife and unique volcanic and geothermal activity. As well as the exhibition, the two studios also created a new interior layout for the overall building, as well as a light refurbishment to the exterior, ensuring a holistic overall look and feel for the project.

The new visitor centre features content that relates to the stunning surrounding landscape. It also examines the way in which that landscape interacts with people, including threats and forced adaptations taking place because of climate change. Subject matter takes in the region’s flora and fauna, geology and natural phenomena, as well as an exploration of the cultural significance of the landscape and the folklore associated with it. The critical importance of the nearby lake is also underlined, together with its ecosystem and insect life, which maintain the lifecycle of the region’s birds and fishes. The word Mývatn translates literally as ‘Midge Lake’.

The exhibition is not only an interior environment but was conceived to be in active dialogue with the surrounding landscape, drawing meaning from the site’s distinctive geology, light, and atmosphere. In this way, the visitor experience extends beyond the building itself and remains continuously attuned to the natural setting outside. The centre also operates as a landmark in its own right - an unmistakable point of orientation within the terrain - as the exterior photographs make clear, its presence legible from a distance against the open landscape.

The area’s fascinating geological surroundings also include pseudo craters, which are rootless forms, caused not by the actual explosion of volcanos, but resulting instead as a byproduct when piping hot lava flows over cool, wet grounds, trapping steam and pressurising the earth downwards. The pseudo craters were formed during the eruption of the Lúdentaborgir and Þrengslaborgir volcanoes around 2,300 years ago.

‘A key design decision was not to compete with the stunning panoramic views the centre offers over Lake Mývatn, the pseudo craters and the mountains but to harmonise with them’, Pippa Nissen, Director of Nissen Richards Studio commented. ‘The bespoke exhibition furniture therefore frames the views, with interventions sitting at a lower level and individual exhibits acting like landscape elements themselves, rising from the table level. Inspired by the summer’s beautiful greens and blues, the central timber tables in the space have been stained to match, whilst the perimeter view is enriched by opportunities to look at the views whilst listening to stories, music and poetry.’

The 400 sq m exhibition space is located within an existing building with glazing to all sides. The building, with an existing rooflight and external terrace, was lightly refurbished during the project, with its existing character retained. The welcome desk, shop and café areas follow the same timber design language as the permanent exhibition space.