desert traditions translate into for-profit shelters
In many parts of the world, architecture starts from conditions that are already under pressure. The shift spans years. Climate reshapes land and movement. Livelihood support systems remain uneven or absent. In this context, Utopia it moves away from distant views and moves on to how spaces are created, shared and maintained over time.
Jordanian-Palestinian designer Abeer Seikaly works from this position. Her practice focuses on the traditional textile products and material systems that respond to volatility while drawing on long-standing knowledge embedded in vessels. Rather than isolating design from its context, it builds through it to address architecture as a process that evolves with people and use.
Abeer Seikaly, image courtesy of the artist
abeer seikaly learns from the hands of communities
Throughout her work, Abeer Seikaly returns to the Bedouin tent, or Beit Al Sha’ar, as a source of structural and cultural knowledge. The tent carries a history shaped through collective construction, where women have traditionally led its construction through weaving. This knowledge has often been excluded from formal planning discourse, despite its technical and spatial complexity.
THE designer brings this lineage forward through projects that translate weaving into structural systems. The emphasis remains on how materials are handled, how connections are made and how knowledge is shared. Architecture here develops through interaction between designer and community, with understanding as a form of continuity.
Weaving a Home, 2020 – in progress, visualization courtesy of the artist
weaving a house
In Weaving a house (2020–ongoing), Abeer Seikaly applies these ideas to the issue of shelter for displaced communities. The project responds to the reality that temporary housing often spans years, while remaining limited in both infrastructure and social capacity. Her approach re-examines what a refuge can offer over time.
The design takes the form of a collapsible canopy consisting of a double-layer structural fabric. Within this system, the regulation of water, energy and the environment is integrated into the architecture itself. The structure can be moved, expanded and grouped with others to form larger settlements. Each unit supports life while contributing to a larger network that can grow and adapt. Check out designboom’s coverage for an early replay here.
Weaving a Home, 2020, Scene in Al-Namara overlooking the Dead Sea, Jordan, visualization © Abeer Seikaly, 2020
terroir
Terroir (2022–ongoing) builds on this foundation through a traveling cultural space developed by Abeer Seikaly together with artisans in the Jordanian desert. Handmade strips of wool are intertwined with wooden rods, forming a three-dimensional enclosure that can be assembled, disassembled and transported. The structure bears the qualities of the materials and the place they come from.
The work is drawn directly from the Bedouin loom, where weaving has long served as both a production and a social practice. Inside the installation, visitors encounter a space shaped by this process. The interior supports gathering and conversation, recalling it even within traditional tents. As it moves between sites, the structure adapts, allowing new exchanges to take place while maintaining its connection to its origin.
Terroir, 2022, installed for MANE in Dubai, image by Rami Mansour © Abeer Seikaly
Terroir (detail), 2022, image Rami Mansour © Abeer Seikaly
meeting points
In Meeting Points (2019), Abeer Seikaly’s approach is shaped through a reconfigurable wood and fiber system. Interlocking elements create a self-supporting grid that can be shifted in scale and configuration. The structure is shaped by tension, with each connection contributing to its stability.
The work extends beyond its physical form. It proposes architecture as a collective act, where the system evolves through participation. The reference to weaving is present in both the technique and the process, connecting the modern construction with the traditions developed from generation to generation. The structure becomes a place of gathering, learning and exchange, where its meaning grows through use.
