Design Architecture On Designboom: Woven Disaster Shelters Are Powered With Sun-Absorbing Fabric By Kimberley Mok Writer McGill University Cornell University Kimberley Mok is a former architect who covered architecture and the arts for Treehugger since 2007. our editorial process Twitter Twitter Kimberley Mok Updated February 27, 2020 ©. Abeer Seikaly/2013 LEXUS DESIGN AWARD - Abeer Seikaly - weaving a home Share Twitter Pinterest Email Design Tiny Homes Architecture Interior Design Green Design Urban Design Innovative disaster shelters have run the gamut of materials like recyclable plastic, to flat pack wonders, to affordable bamboo homes that float when it floods. Jordanian-Canadian designer Abeer Seikaly turns to solar-absorbing fabric as his material of choice in creating woven shelters that are powered by the sun and inspired by nomadic culture. According to Designboom: The use of structural fabric references ancient traditions of joining linear fibers to make complex three-dimensional shapes – the resulting pattern is easy to erect and scale into various functions, from a basket to a tent. the project incorporates technological advances and new methods of assembly of the material, envisioning a system composed of durable plastic members that are threaded to form a singular unit. These flexible envelopes fold across a central axis, with the hollow structural skin enabling necessities such as water and electricity to run through it, similar to a typical stud wall. Utilizing the structural principles of tensegrity and biomimicking the blooming action of a flower, the structure can open and close from its center point. Probably one of the most elegant disaster shelters we've ever come across -- check out many more images and drawings over at Designboom and Abeer Seikaly.