The new Reykjavík Concert Hall and Conference Centre, named Harpa, opened with an official inauguration ceremony on May 13th 2011. Mannvit played a significant role in the engineering and design of Harpa, including the structural engineering, HVAC, fire safety, electrical design, roads and utilities. The other engineering firms involved were Ramboll and Hnit.  The main designers were the Danish firm, Henning Larsen Architects, the Icelandic architectural firm, Batteríid and visual artist Olafur Eliasson. The principal contractor for the project was IAV hf., an Icelandic project management company.

Located in the center of Reykjavik, Harpa provides the city with outstanding conference facilities. Throughout the design process, emphasis was placed on giving enough versatility to host large and intimate events like exhibitions and music or public events simultaneously, without interfering with one another. The acoustics, which were designed by Artec Consultants from the US, are outstanding for a broad spectrum of events, while the seats, lines of sight and audience facilities are all first class. Harpa is now the official home of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Opera.

Reykjavik’s newest landmark
The goal of Harpa’s striking façade, designed by renowned Icelandic visual artist Olafur Eliasson, is to be a focal point and landmark in the redevelopment of  Reykjavik’s historic harbor and waterfront area.  To provide a sense of scale, Harpa's structure is 28,000 square meters (258,000 sq. ft.) in size, 43 meters tall (141 ft.) and sits directly on the waterfront of Reykjavik’s old harbor. The building’s bottom slab is 8,000 square meters and it has 2,500 tons of construction steel and 4,000 tons of reinforcement bars. Roughly 200,000 cubic meters of soil were removed from the site before construction began and over six million tons of seawater pumped out during construction. Mannvit is proud to have been a key part of the design team in this important addition to Reykjavik.

Harpa’s name comes both from the English name of the string instrument and the Icelandic name of a month in the old Nordic calendar, which marks the beginning of summer, a period of particular importance in Iceland.