Nanoq

Entertainment retail is still a novel concept in Iceland, so the new Nanoq Outdoor Shop in Reykjavik's Kringlan Mall is a hot commodity.

Like the Icelandic elements, designers at Arrowstreet Inc. (Somerville, Mass.) went to extremes in designing the 27,000-square-foot, two-level store. A 57-foot-tall basalt climbing structure outside its doors is a dramatic beacon for mall walkers. Inside, they crafted spaces where customers can browse in specialty boutiques, test equipment or just hang out. A “river” of holographic tile provides a circulation path through the store, while a rope bridge swings 20 feet above the floor.

Local touches abound in materials and forms. The structure of native sod houses is suggested in the shoe area. Corrugated metal, a common building material, is used throughout the store, including an elevator shaft that resembles a weathered water tower. Modular, flexible fixtures incorporating minimum parts are made of recycled materials such as wheat chaff.

Client: Hof Holdings, Reykjavik, Iceland — Thorbjorn Stefansson, ceo

Design Architect: Arrowstreet Inc., Somerville, Mass. — John Cole, principal-in-charge; David Schowalter, interior designer

Architect of Record: Teiknistofa Halldors Gudmundssonar, Reykjavik, Iceland Outside

Consultants: Arrowstreet Graphic Design, Somerville, Mass. (graphics); Umdasch Shop Concept, Amstetten, Austria (interiors); Ripman Lighting Consultants, Belmont, Mass. (lighting)

General Contractor: VST Consulting Engineers Ltd., Reykjavik, Iceland

Suppliers: Polomyx, Billerica, Mass. (ceilings, walls); Umdasch Shop Concept GmbH, Amstetten, Austria (fixturing); McGrory Glass Inc., Philadelphia (watercut-glass tile “river”); Arte de Mexico, Los Angeles (decorative antler light fixture); Architectural Forest Enterprises, San Francisco (sunflower seedboard and wheatboard); Entre Prises, Bend, Ore. (climbing rock)

Photography: Oddstefan Thorrison, Reykjavik, Iceland