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Design:The Iconic Home Designs That Define Our Global Cities
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Design

How Reykjavik's Sheet-Metal Homes Beat the Icelandic Winter

The ironclad homes of Iceland's capital city may be unorthodox, but the innovative buildings have kept residents warm and dry for more than century.

Most of Reykjavik’s ironclad homes were built between 1880 and 1925.

Most of Reykjavik’s ironclad homes were built between 1880 and 1925.

Photographer: bpperry/iStock Editorial via Getty Images

(This article is part of our ongoing series exploring the iconic home designs that shaped global cities. Read more from the series and sign up to get the next story sent directly to your inbox.) 

For the first-time visitor, Reykjavik is a surprising place. It’s not just the city’s seasonal extremes of daylight and darkness, the spectacularly changeable weather or the craggy profile of Mount Esja looming over everything. It’s also the city’s buildings.