the institute has long been located in the árnagarður building on the campus of the university of iceland by suðurgata in reykjavík, though the organisations that were merged into the institute in 2006 continued to be based at different sites in reykjavík. in 2005, the alþingi approved the construction of a purpose-built hús ís­lensk­unn­ar ('house of icelandic') or hús íslenskra fræða ('house of icelandic studies') to house the whole institute, standing on the other side of suðurgata, beside the national library of iceland. ground was broken in 2013 and a large hole dug before building work was temporarily halted following a change of government; the hole came to be known as the 'hola ís­lenskra fræða' ('hole of icelandic studies'). on 7 may 2019 it was declared that work would resume.