FAMILY WHO LIVE IN ARCTIC CIRCLE CLEVERLY BUILDS MESMERISING SOLAR DOME

Though the Arctic Circle usually evokes visions of harsh weather, one family has succeeded in creating their own comfortable haven in the remote regions of Norway. Since 2013, the Hjertefølger family has been residing on Sandhornøya island in Norway, where they began their transition to a sustainable lifestyle. Their three-story cob house, which was constructed using sand, water, clay, and other organic materials, is protected by a solar geodesic dome manufactured by Solardome that is both aesthetically beautiful and useful.

The five-bedroom, two-bathroom house was surrounded by a 25-foot-tall dome that reduced heating expenses and provided shelter from severe gusts and heavy snowfall for the six-person family. The geodesic dome provides the family with the required greenhouse environment to grow a large portion of their food, and it also covers a garden area. They can grow a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in an area that receives no sunlight for three months of the year, including apples, cherries, plums, apricots, kiwis, grapes, cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs, squash, and melons.

Away from the bitter cold of the Arctic Circle, the warm, inviting atmosphere is created by the intimate, rustic interior. On chilly winter evenings, the family will undoubtedly enjoy some unique entertainment from the breathtaking views of the natural world and the Aurora Borealis. "We adore the house; it feels very personal and has a soul of its own. Ingrid Hjertefølger told Inhabited, "What surprises us is that we built ourselves anew as we built the house." "The process moulded and transformed us."

The family and their friends built The Nature House, and after three years they are doing well. Hjertefølger says, "We feel different when we walk into this house than when we walk into any other house."

“The atmosphere is unique. The house has a calmness; I can almost hear the stillness. It is hard to explain. But it would have been impossible to get this feeling from a house someone else has planned and built for us, or a house with corners and straight lines.”