Helen & Hard Revives Viking Boatbuilding in Norway Cabin

On a rocky headland in Randaberg, Norway, architects Reinhard Kropf and Siv Helene Stangeland of Helen & Hard have completed Cabin Sande, a 112-square-meter retreat built to replace a 1970s cabin on the same site within the original footprint and height restrictions. The interior structure is defined by 18 whole spruce trees functioning as structural columns, with their root systems branching across the ceiling where columns meet beams.

This structural approach looks back to Norwegian boatbuilding traditions from the Viking Age, where shipbuilders utilized naturally curved sections at the trunk-and-root junctions to reinforce wooden vessel frames. For Cabin Sande, each spruce tree was excavated with intact roots, cleaned, air-dried for eight months, and subsequently scanned in digital format.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

Digital models mapped the irregular shapes of the roots, allowing robots to mill precise fitted joints directly from the root systems so each tree could integrate into the column-and-beam framework. Four rows of columns are arranged in a fan-shaped formation, opening the main living space toward the western horizon. Cantilevered roof beams meet in pairs above and span a horizontal opening over nine meters wide facing the Atlantic Ocean.