Architects and interior designers have to think about light a lot, but this hotel in Iceland takes things to another level. You may already know that the days get pretty long as you go north, and in fact there are such marked differences in light throughout the year in Iceland that the designers of Reykjavik Lights Hotel – Karitas Sveinsdóttir and Hafsteinn Júlíusson of HAF Studio (in collaboration with architecture studio T.ark – decided to base the whole concept of the place on the many hues that characterise the country’s changing seasons.

The hotel has been divided up into 12 parts – not based on the months of the Gregorian calendar we use today, but the ancient Icelandic Rímtafla calendar. Each period has its own colour scheme, with corridors and rooms decorated in very specific ways. The effect required an incredible 105 custom wallpapers to accurately reflect the various shades, and the typography illustrating the period is the work of graphic designer Sveinn Þorri Davíðsson, who went old school and then some with his characters based on ancient runic symbols. Pretty star maps are also dotted about explaining the night sky to the non-astronomers. The Reykjavik Lights hotel is a beautiful idea, and quite an education too.

@Keahotels
@HAFstudio
@svennnni

Photography, Gunnar Sverrisson & Vigfús Birgisson