A Norwegian family have built a glass dome around their off-grid house in the Arctic Circle.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
1 How much does the glass dome cost?
2 How many individual glass panels does the dome have?
3 How do Benjamin and Ingrid get their food?
4 Where does the family live?
5 Where did Benjamin and Ingrid grow up?
6 Why do they want to live that way?
When I look back at our creation now, I get a deep sense of gratitude and joy.
We were inspired by the hundreds of natural buildings around the world. It’s in our own and everybody else’s interest to protect, support and love the planet that sustains us.
As part of their quest for sustainable living, Benjamin and Ingrid built this incredible glass dome house for £340,000 in the Arctic Circle.
We started building the dome in 2012. We built for one and a half years before we moved in.
The huge dome is made of 360 individual glass panels and stands 7 and a half meters high and 15 meters across. Designed to withstand winds of over 31mps, it can also take the weight of the Arctic snowfall.
It provides shelter from the Arctic climate and we need less energy to heat the house.
We grow some of our own food and we collect wild herbs and plants in nature. We don’t buy much stuff.
It gives us a longer and warmer growing season. We have a water treatment system where all the water we use circulates in tanks and this pumps out into the green house, where plants and sand filter and clean the water and also takes nutrients from it.
At the centre of the dome is the family’s living quarters.
We wanted a house that made, is made of natural materials, that does not pollute the air inside and has organic shapes, that is pleasant to live in.
The inside of the house is made of cob, which is a mix of sand, clay and straw. We also use timber.
Both Benjamin and Ingrid were raised on the island and they’re now looking for their four children to follow the same path.
Our three oldest children, they were very much a part of the building process and they helped us build the walls of their own rooms. And they love the house and they say that they never want to move, they want to grow old here with us. We want to live sustainably and eco-friendly because the other alternative isn’t sustainable. We worked so hard in the process of building it and it’s, it was well worth it.
Key:
1 £340,000.
2 360.
3 They buy some but grow their own food.
4 At the centre of the dome.
5 On the island.
6 They want to live sustainably and eco-friendly.
