This collapsible tent can collect rainwater, store solar energy could just change the lives of millions of refugees around the world
This collapsible tent can collect rainwater, store solar energy could just change the lives of millions of refugees around the world
Since 2011, the Syrian Civil War created one of the most devastating humanitarian disasters in the world, with an estimated number of 13.5 million Syrians internally displaced or are refugees outside Syria, according to the United Nations.
This brilliant ‘weaving a home’ aims to weave the lives of refugees back together.
Facing the difficulty of finding basic shelter and a home to live in, award-winning Jordanian-Canadian architect Abeer Seikaly was inspired to come up with a solution to help transform the lives of these refugees.
Aside from providing shelter, this innovative engineering design will collect water and store solar energy. Inhabitants can actually take a shower from the collected rainwater via a process called thermosiphoning which draws the water back up. The solar energy is transferred to the tent’s fabric and then stored to a battery.
Named ‘Weaving a Home’, this design was inspired by materials found in nature and traditional cultural activities such as weaving, has a double-layer surface to keep out wet and cold weather while allowing cool air in during summer.
The design uses a unique structural fabric composed of high-strength plastic tubing molded into sine-wave curves that can expand and enclose during different weather conditions, and also be broken down to allow an ease in mobility and transport.
View Abeer Seikaly's TED talk
While the project is still under development since 2013, Seikaly saysthat she hopes the plan will be available for the refugees soon after it is finalized.
The reason why it is taking so long is due to the difficulties in transforming the design into a product, ensuring that its capabilities such as water collection and solar energy collection are included.
Abeer Seikaly is a renowned architect, artist, designer, and cultural producer, and has received her Bachelor of Architecture and Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2002.
© All images Abeer Seikaly
