Manfreð Vilhjálmsson was born in Reykjavík in 1928. His family lived in a wooden house built by his father in Skildinganes in 1927. During his youth, Manfreð spent long hours in his father’s workshop located in the basement of the house, as his intention was to become a carpenter. Manfreð decided, however, to study architecture on the advice of the architects Sigvaldi Thordarson and Halldór H. Jónsson. He was though to work on a number of projects with his father after finishing his architectural studies, the best known being Manfreð’s own house, which he named ‘carpenter’s house’ as a homage to his father. Reinterpreting Mies’s famous statement, ‘God is in the detail’, Manfreð created his own motto ‘Good is in the detail’, which he has followed in all his projects.
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