Högna Sigurðardóttir

Högna Sigurðardóttir (born 1929, Vestmannaeyjar) is a leading Icelandic architect. She is the first woman to have designed a building in Iceland. She spent most of her professional career in France.

In 1949 Högna Sigurðardóttir became the first Icelander to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Shortly after graduating in 1960, she designed a residential building in the Westman Islands, so becoming the first woman to design a building in Iceland. She was not, however, the first Icelandic woman to study architecture (that honor goes to Halldóra Briem). She came to early prominence in Iceland, both for her daring architectural style and for breaking the glass ceiling in a field dominated by men at the time.

She went on to build other residential buildings in Reykjavík and Kópavogur, installing furniture of her own design and adding gardens on the roofs as a means of creating an affinity with the natural surroundings. Her fine appreciation of landscape and nature can be seen even more vividly in the residential building at Bakkaflöt 1 in Garðabær. Inspired by the look of a traditional Icelandic turf house, Högna Sigurðardóttir made creative use of modern methods and materials in completing the work. As a result, in 2000 the building was picked out in an international review as one of the 100 most noteworthy buildings of the 20th century in Northern and Central Europe.

At the time, Högna's designs were seen as very modern and bold.

In connection with the Honorary Medal for Visual Arts which Högna Sigurðardóttir was awarded in 2007 by the Akureyri Art Museum, it was stated that she had made a "unique lifetime contribution to Iceland architecture" and that her architecture was "more closely linked to Icelandic landscape, nature and heritage than the work of most contemporary architects."

In 2008, Högna Sigurðardóttir was elected an honorary member of the Association of Iceland.

In 1967, together with the French architect Adrien Fainsilber, Högna Sigurðardóttir won the first prize for designing a large-scale university development at Villetaneuse in the northern suburbs of Paris. Icelandic newspapers covered her award at great length; bringing prominence to her in Iceland.

• Hogna Sigurdardottir-Anspach: Revealing the Social Content: Birting Hins Felagslega Inntaks, Museum of Finnish Architecture. ISBN 951-9229-76-0.