[1] Hovig was born in Verran Municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway.
He was the son of Johannes Sigurd Hovig (1895–1953) and Gudlaug Pauline Taugstad (1900–1969).
Narvik had been devastated in battle during 1940 as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the German invasion of Norway.
[2] Hovig represented Norway at the Architecture Exhibition during the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
Hovig's most notable work is the Arctic Cathedral (Tromsdalen kirke), which was drafted in 1960 and completed in 1965.