Iceland
Greenhouse Restaurant

Bee Breeders Competition Organisers is excited to announce the results for the Iceland Greenhouse Restaurant Competition, a collaboration with Vogafjós Farm Resort, located near lake Mývatn, Iceland.

For this competition, participants were tasked with designing a greenhouse concept restaurant. With fresh, locally grown foods scarce in Iceland, particularly during the winter months, this competition called for submissions to design a greenhouse that would also function as a dine-in restaurant. Such a greenhouse would allow Vogafjós Farm to grow salad vegetables, fruits, and berries that could then be served, offering the guests an immersive experience as well as locally-produced food. The brief sought sustainable designs to accommodate 100 guests and which included standard amenities: an appropriately-sized kitchen, storage facilities, and toilets. The owners expressed interest in developing a restaurant where customers could witness first-hand the processes of production, as well as including larger programs such as a multipurpose hall to be used for events like film showings and yoga classes.

Bee Breeders worked with an outstanding regional and international jury panel for this event comprising: David Ceaser, Lead Agronomist at Agritecture, an advisory firm on urban and controlled environment agriculture, who has more than 15 years experience working in indoor and outdoor hydroponics and soil based agriculture; Pálmar Kristmundsson, Icelandic-based architect and founder of PK Arkitektar, who has built an exceptional career integrating Japanese vernacular architecture with the striking effects of the unspoiled nature of his home country of Iceland; Katie MacDonald, Cofounder of After Architecture and Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia, whose work explores how technology can reconcile design intention with natural materials and processes; Oscar Rodriguez, a UK and Spain-registered Architect, founder of Building Integrated Agriculture specialist practice, Architecture & Food and Director of Policy for UK Urban Agritech, a professional body representing over 50 technology-led urban farming organisations; Christina Seilern founder of London-based creative practice Studio Seilern Architects; and Valdis Steinarsdottir, an Icelandic entrepreneur, experimental designer, and Formex-Nova Nordic designer of the year, whose project Bioplastic Skin is a biodegradable packaging for meat made out of the skin of the animal itself - a resourceful project aiming to limit plastic waste while making use of a byproduct typically lost to meat consumption.

Bee Breeders and its jury panel would like to thank the hundreds of participants from around the globe that submitted ideas to this competition. The received proposals were strong and represented a range of ideas for sustainable design, landscape integration, and new hybrid typologies for food growth and dining.