Every city has it's eyesores. Unfortunately, this one is located on our main strip Laugavegur, for everyone to see over and over again. We've watched the puddle in the pit fill, freeze, thaw, snow over, thaw again and refreeze, etc. Aside from that being a comment on the fickle weather over here, that means this lot has lay bare for many months now. Many months. And this is not midtown Reykjavik's only unfinished architectural business...
Commentary aside, I find this scene attractive for its rawness, for exposing the inner workings of a city block like some kind of splayed open biology dissection specimen. I wonder about the soot stain on the white building at the back, and about the block-letter graffiti on the brick garage. I applaude the person who decided to paint the face of the low-lying storage building a deep red with green trim, even though it was almost completely hidden from view before the house that filled this hole was torn down. I love the colors that contrast shockingly with the rubble and I like that we can see down to the bedrock and feel assured that the heart of Reykjavik is built on solid rock. I won't miss this raw scene when it's gone, but while it's here we might as well try to appreciate it.
