As this decade of the 2010’s comes to an end, we can look back and see a number of upheavals around the world leading to many devastating humanitarian disasters. Perhaps the greatest example is the estimated 13.5 million Syrians displaced intermally or outside of Syria, many living in tents in inhospitable areas. Moved by this, the Jordanian-Canadian architect Abeer Seikaly developed a solution to help the lives of these refugees.
Living in tents, families are hard-pressed to have access to electricity, clean water, and basic sanitation. In addition, many refugees are forced to move; moving tents (and the contents in them) is challenging. Ms. Seikaly developed a unique tent design, called ‘Weaving a Home’, which uses a structural fabric composed of high-strength plastic tubing molded into sine-wave curves that can expand and enclose during different weather conditions for shelter and water collection. In addition, it can also be broken down to allow easier mobility and transportation.
This tent is unique as it can collect rainwater and have it used for showering. Rainwater is collected from the top of the tent and then filters down the sides to storage pockets. Given the issue of basic health and sanitation, having access to showers within their own tent will improve their health and quality of life.
Through its innovative engineering design, the tent can also absorb solar energy and transform it into electric energy, which is stored in special batteries.
The tent has not become commercially available yet, but she hopes final approval will occur soon and these tents can be made available for refugees soon after it is finalized. There have been difficulties in transforming the design into a product, ensuring that its capabilities such as water collection and solar energy collection work under real world conditions.
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