KGPdesign studio

Midgard Turn (Grjotagia Tower) Iceland Grjotagja marks the western boundary of a fault zone where fissures have extended and faulted after the lava from Jarðbaðshólar formed 2700 years ago. It marks the subaerial portion of the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge, separating the North American from the Eurasian plates at a rate of ~2 cm a year. Upon setting foot at Grjotagja, its rawness is visceral even after millennia. Tangible proof of the earth's persistent and unyielding movement upends our senses on a time and scale beyond us. Still, it is perceivable by evidence left in the topography of the creeping fissure and the fractured basaltic landscape. There is a jarring realization that the ground under our feet is not "grounded" but an inexorable interplay of forces preceding and succeeding us by millennia, redefining the landscape.

No wonder this surreal landscape deeply embedded in Iceland's Old Norse mythology, Midgard or the Middle World of its original Norse settlers, is precariously located in an otherwise hostile wilderness, Jotunheim, subsumed by unworldly forces and threats. The most significant threat was Jormungandr, or Midgardr Serpent, born of their seafaring roots, dwelling in the seas encircling the entirety of Midgard and the consciousness of the Norse mindset. It was Jormungand that the ceaseless earthquakes and terrestrial tectonics were attributed. Though slain by Thor at Ragnarok, his imprint lives on in Iceland's national coat of arms, as in the landscape of Grjotagja and the soul of Iceland.