Can you imagine that around the world there are over 40 million refugees fleeing natural disasters and political violence? To deal with humanitarian crises, award-winning architect and designer Abeer Seikaly has developed inexpensive, simple, lightweight, practical, transportable, and structurally sound refugee tents.
These amazing tents not only provide refugees with shelter but will also incorporate water collection, solar power generation, and solar water heating into the design.
Image courtesy Abeer Seikaly
Inspired by traditional basket weaving techniques and the flexibility of snakeskin, designer Abeer Seikaly has produced a tent structure for temporary shelter. This wonderful home is ventilated and is efficient enough to provide the neediest people with fundamental necessities.
The designer made use of weatherproof fabric from durable, curved plastic elements and a flexible textile skin that can hold compression and tension loads. Moreover, these double-layered fabric tent skins are hollow which permits water piping and electrical cables to run between the layers.
The outer layer helps in absorbing solar energy which is converted into usable electricity; however, the inner skin provides pockets for storage. There is also a water storage tank at the top of the tent for taking quick showers.
Abeer wrote on her design brief, “Weaving a Home’ reexamines the traditional architectural concept of tent shelters by creating a technical, structural fabric that expands to enclose and contracts for mobility while providing the comforts of contemporary life (heat, running water, electricity, storage, etc.).”
Image courtesy Abeer Seikaly
Image courtesy Abeer Seikaly
