[The Summer of 2012] my friends and I constructed a semi- subterranean earth lodge on the Tanana River in Interior Alaska. It is a combination of my own experimentation as well as the ideas of northern indigenous peoples. The main design elements that I wanted were An entryway that acted as a true cold sink, an open fire that drew air from outside of the lodge, and a comfortable living space that provided sitting, standing and sleeping areas.
The first step was to gather and process the materials
Birch bark: We gathered both live and dead bark in three foot panels. The dead bark was for padding the live bark
Spruce poles: Over 120 spruce poles were cut peeled and dryed
Spruce root: Spruce root was gathered peeled and split to be used for sowing the birch bark roof panels together
First a roughly fourteen foot square hole was dug. the lodge was to be around 11 foot square.
next the retaining wall was begun. Posts were cut, two per side. They were notched with a scoop adz and beams were placed on top. the beams were lock notched together.
the retaining wall is 3 feet tall so that someone sitting against the wall will not hit their heads on the roof beams. spruce polls were driven in behind the beams at a slight outward angle. Birch bark was placed behind the poles to keep silt from drifting into the lodge. The silt from digging the hole was then filled in behind the retaining wall.
the entryway was cribbed with spruce polles and birch bark. It is thirty inches lower than the floor. It forms a short tunnel which has a roof at the same height as the lodges floor. In this way all the warm air in the lodge will be static
posts and beams were raised that will eventually hold the roof polls. The posts were notched with the scoop adz. The beams frame the smoke hole in such a way that it can not be crushed and is held together by the weight of the future roof
the roof poles rested on logs staked in behind the retaining walls
corner posts were placed and the corners filled with polls
Birch bark panels were sewn into fifteen foot lengths and layered up the lodge.
sod was cut into four foot strips that were rolled up and packed in. the remaining roof area was shingled with birch bark and covered with sod.
the smoke hole was framed with spruce poles and surrounded with silt
since these pictures were taken the fire pit and air intake system have been built and a second layer of sod has been started. hope all enjoyed the pictures!
