Two architects re-purposed a 100-person marine survival lifeboat, Stødig, into a self-sufficient expedition home, and traveled 5000km from the UK to the Norwegian Arctic in 2019. Currently based in Tromsø.

THE ADVENTURE

Architects Guylee Simmonds and David Schnabel bought a marine survival lifeboat in February 2018 and, after a year-long conversion, left on four-month voyage to the Arctic. Along with Shackleton, Guylee's dog, they traveled from the UK to Tromsø, far north in the Norwegian Fjords. Situated at 70o north, Tromsø is the largest city in the Arctic. Having arrived, the lifeboat and crew spent the winter there, and explored their surroundings. The aim of the expedition was to explore this wild and isolated landscape, demonstrate the ability of design innovation to facilitate self-sufficiency in such extreme environments, and to document and share the adventure through photography and film.

The voyage began in May 2019, departing from the southern British port of Newhaven. The route skirted the Belgian and Dutch coast, passing through the Kiel canal in Germany into the Baltic. Passing up the Danish then Swedish coast, past Copenhagen and Gothenburg, before crossing the Skagerrak, south of the lower tip of Norway up to Bergen. The lifeboat then followed the route of the famous Hurtigruten ferry, passing up the fjords to Tromsø.