From Island to Island: What It Takes to Practice Architecture in the North
Eighteen hours. Three boats. One lighthouse island.
In Northern Norway, designing buildings begins with knowing the sea, the weather — and how to wait.
This morning, snow covered the ground again.It’s April on the Helgeland coast, and still the seasons hold their breath. I packed a small bag, left the warmth of our home and garden, and stepped onto the first of three boats — a journey that will take me 18 hours, from one small island to another: Skrova lighthouse in Lofoten.
It’s not far, geographically. But out here, time doesn’t follow highways. It follows the rhythm of the tide.
To live and work as an architect in this region is to design differently.
You have to understand logistics and weather patterns as deeply as you understand materials. You have to build with what is available — and make it beautiful. You have to think in terms of wind direction, seasonal light, and sea spray. And most of all, you have to be patient.
Because to build something out here, you must first arrive.
Sometimes that alone is a journey.
At VALRYGG Studio, our architecture isn’t just rooted in design philosophy.
It’s rooted in real place.
In ferries and fieldwork.
In raincoats and frostbitten soil.
In long talks with locals.
In slow sketches drawn on boats.
We work differently here.
But that difference is what gives our work meaning.
Whether we’re designing for hospitality, heritage, or home, we begin the same way:
by listening.
To the landscape.
To the community.
To what the place wants to become.
And from there — we begin to shape something that belongs.
Want to work with us on a project that honors its place and pace?