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.
‘The aim of the design approach for The Gígur Visitor Centre was to create both a tourist destination and a resource for local communities’ Karl Kvaran, Architect and Director of SP(R)INT STUDIO added. ‘It recognises that local visitors and tourists from further afield may have different needs and interests when visiting – and may interact in different ways. The content is therefore made up of a complex web of relationships. In order to make the narrative coherent, accessible and engaging, the centre has been structured with the overall aim of fostering a sense of awe and wonder at the surrounding landscape that also will hopefully inspire visitors with a desire to protect the environment.’
Each theme of the exhibition includes stories relating to both geology and biology, as well as the coexistence of man and nature. Stories relating to research and nature conservation also run as threads throughout. Visitors are able to weave in and out of the landscape and view the same models, specimens or drawings from different perspectives. Additional content specifically relates to the perspective from which the visitor is looking – whether research, conservation or community for example – and enriches the experience.
One of the main goals of the exhibition design was to make the content engaging for all ages. Play is a powerful tool for learning and it was important that this was a playful space where younger visitors can explore, touch, experiment and engage in a multi-sensory way. Information is aimed at a wide variety of audiences, but includes plenty of sturdy physical interactives for children and even ‘hidden’ elements just for them, such as drawings and activities at child height and troll tunnels only children can access.
Tangibility was another important directive, with exhibits, including specimens, both touchable and able to be investigated wherever possible. 3D models are also introduced to explain the landscape as fully as possible.
For tourists from outside Iceland, information is given in other languages via audio devices with dual language (Icelandic and English) information used for all boards and signage. The interpretation centred on making complex geological and geographical concepts comprehensible for lay visitors of all ages. The graphic design element was a major undertaking with a large number of exhibits to observe, listen to and watch, needing plenty of extra interpretation, infographics, maps, illustrations, audio points and descriptions. Digital exhibits include audio stories, an excerpt from the film ‘Hvell’ and an underwater video, along with a dedicated AV room showing documentary footage about the area.
Lan Le of Nissen Richards Studio, Senior Graphic Designer on the project, commented:
‘We wanted to show that data can be beautiful and therefore we used graphics to transform original scientific information into cohesive, comprehensible data visualisations and engaging interactive puzzles. We favoured the use of details that represented the clarity of science and the beauty of nature, using circles, curves, organic shapes are used when appropriate.’
This exhibition raises broader questions too about the relationship between humans and nature – how people inhabit, interpret, and affect the landscapes they depend on. It speaks to future generations, not only by communicating scientific knowledge but by encouraging a sense of responsibility, care, and stewardship, inviting younger visitors to imagine their role in preserving fragile ecosystems over time.
At the same time, the exhibition provides a powerful lens through which to understand the uniqueness of the site- and, more broadly, the distinct character of Iceland itself. By grounding the visitor experience in the particularities of this landscape – its geology, ecology and cultural narratives – the exhibition frames nature not as a neutral backdrop, but as an active presence that shapes human life. In doing so, it positions the Visitor Centre as both a place of learning and a space for reflection, where environmental knowledge is inseparable from questions of ethics, belonging, and the future.