Those who remember Reykjavík in the 20's and 30's, recall that sometimes on calm winter days, the smoke from the chimneys would produce a dark cloud that would settle over the city, and visibility reduced drastically. Despite this oppressive atmosphere, some men got together to plan how to harness the heat they knew was trapped in the ground under the city. In 1928 the first holes for hot water were drilled at Laugardalur in the heart of the city, today called The Washing-pools of Laugardalur. In the following years a number of holes were drilled and today the number of holes within the city limits is about 50. The deepest holes are about 2 km. deep producing up to 80°C hot water. In the year 1990 Reykjavík Geothermal Heating Authority launched a open competition on housing the hot water wells. Out of over 80 entries the proposal for this building was selected. This is the first of these buildings and others are scheduled to follow in the coming years. These structures will stand as a token to the utilization of the natural resources within the city limits. They also become a part of the image of the city. Every house of the city is heated to day with geothermal water making the old system of oil heating obsolete. When foreigners approach Reykjavik on a sunny and frost still winter day, they are amazed to see no smoke rising from the chimneys. The air is fresh and clean, and you can see from here to eternity. The building is a 14 sqm steel structure (3 by 6.5 meters) constructed of two stainless steel clad curvilinear walls separated by a door at each end. The building is built at a shop off site and moved in one piece to a hot water well. The building houses the mechanism on top of the well, that pumps the water to a central control from where it is distributed throughout the city.
A vertical element hanging from the roof to the side of the building contains the air-conditioning system for the machinery, taking air from the top and pumping it down to the floor, creating a circulation of air, cooling the motor and creating over pressure inside to avoid dust from getting inside and damaging the motor system. Beside the air-conditioning element there is a pipe sticking out from the wall letting the steam created by the boiling water, out in the air. Leaving a steam stroke in the air, refers to the original meaning of the name, Reykjavík, meaning Smoke-bay, named by the settlers, mistaking steam for smoke.
