The architecture of Pálmar Kristmundsson belongs both to the wild, tempestuous and stunningly beautiful natural landscape of Iceland and to that country's rapidly urbanising contemporary society. This book follows Kristmundsson's journey from his first encounters with vernacular Japanese architecture in the small fishing village of Þingeyri, to rise to one of the most prominent figures in Icelandic architecture today. He is an architect whose eye is as observant to the contour of the landscape as to the details of a door handle - or, as Gert Wingårdh describes him in the book's introduction, a "master of extremes". Presented here is an account of Kristmundsson's body of work, as well as an examination of the conditions and challenges faced by architecture today.

The architecture of Pálmar Kristmundsson belongs both to the wild, tempestuous and stunningly beautiful natural landscape of Iceland and to that country's rapidly urbanising contemporary society. This book follows Kristmundsson's journey from his first encounters with vernacular Japanese architecture in the small fishing village of Þingeyri, to rise to one of the most prominent figures in Icelandic architecture today. He is an architect whose eye is as observant to the contour of the landscape as to the details of a door handle - or, as Gert Wingårdh describes him in the book's introduction, a "master of extremes". Presented here is an account of Kristmundsson's body of work, as well as an examination of the conditions and challenges faced by architecture today.