Franciska Eliassen built an underground earth home inspired by traditional Norwegian sod huts to live simply and sustainably from what the land could offer.
Using salvaged materials—driftwood, discarded planks, and secondhand windows—she spent only a couple of hundred dollars on hardware and waterproofing to create her unique home.
Her journey toward self-sufficiency began in 2017 on a small hill on an island in Northern Norway. Seeking freedom and solitude, she moved out of a conventional home and into a tent, where she reveled in waking to birdsong and the sound of rain on canvas.
However, the tent was neither warm nor permanent. Inspired by the traditional Sámi turf huts, known as "gamme," she decided to build her own. After weeks of wandering the landscape, foraging berries, and eating crackers, she found the perfect location—protected from the wind yet open to sunlight—and began construction with the landowner's permission.
Building the gamme became a race against time as Arctic frost threatened to solidify the ground before her work was done. Franciska labored tirelessly, often under the midnight sun, hauling materials up the hill and shaping them into a structure with the help of friends and fellow students.
By November, just as the frost set in, she completed the sod walls and roof and moved into her new home. Insulated by earth and warmed by a $10 secondhand stove, the gamme kept her cozy through harsh Arctic winters, even allowing her to walk barefoot inside.
For a year and a half, Franciska lived in her gamme, relying on foraging, wild harvesting, and dumpster diving for sustenance. She planted herbs and berries on the sod roof and even managed to grow an apple tree that bore fruit despite the northern latitude. Her days were filled with simple pleasures: skating on frozen lakes, bathing in the snow, and marveling at the Northern Lights. The gamme became more than just a shelter—it symbolized freedom, resilience, and harmony with nature.
Today, Franciska leads a nomadic life, hitchhiking on sailboats across the Atlantic and traveling through Central and South America. Yet, she still considers the gamme her true home, a testament to her belief in living untethered from societal expectations.
Her hut stands as proof that it’s possible to live lightly on the planet, reclaim a piece of land, and rediscover the beauty of a simple life. Since Franciska was abroad during our visit, her friend Henrik, who has converted a WWII bunker into a hut on a nearby hill, guided us through the Gamme.
