qasab.art

A community-led sustainable design initiative.

A research-based development practice focused on designing, prototyping, advancing, and sharing community infrastructures, technologies, and systems for resource-limited contexts.

Named after river cane, material and method, a symbol of flexibility and regeneration, embodies resilience adaptability, and local intelligence.

In Practice

“Areas of Work”

using natural and reclaimed materials, we develop and build, practical, low cost, success proved solutions, focusing on agricultural, rural, and urban infrastructure and adaptive structures and systems.

Community-Centered, Open & Collaborative

Side by side, we work with the communities to exchange knowledge and openly present our methods to encourage replication and learning across regions. Designers work alongside farmers, engineers, craftspeople, researchers, and communities to co-create solutions from the ground up.

Local communities hold deep, place-based knowledge, skills, and lived experience shaped by their environments and histories. QASAB brings contemporary research, design methodologies, systems thinking, and access to wider professional networks.

Our Approach

Our approach is field-based, design-driven, and grounded in experimentation. QASAB works from research to practice, where design is a method of inquiry carried out through direct engagement with real conditions.

We explore successful practices and models from other contexts, adapt and replicate them where appropriate, and combine them with local knowledge to generate context-responsive solutions.

Learning by doing is central to our practice. Through hands-on experimentation, we embrace trial, failure, and refinement as essential parts of innovation. This process allows systems to evolve gradually, ensuring they remain repairable, adaptable, and governed by the people who use them.

Through this integrated approach, QASAB develops solutions that are human-centered, environmentally grounded, and capable of growing with the communities and landscapes they serve.

we have a vision

We envision communities that can design, build, and maintain their own infrastructure and systems using local resources, shared knowledge, and environmentally responsible practices.
QASAB imagines a future where sustainable development is driven from the ground up—rooted in place, material intelligence, and collective learning rather than dependency on imported solutions.

QASAB aims to interdisciplinary culture where artists, designers, engineers, farmers, and craftspeople collaborate to address urgent challenges related to food security, resource scarcity, and sustainable livelihoods.

our mission

QASAB positions design practice as a leading force in development, where material intelligence and hands-on experimentation guide solutions from the start.

By building strong, long-term relationships with municipalities, academic institutions, NGOs, experts, and local communities, QASAB works to ensure the renewability, availability, and accessibility of river cane. Through this process, QASAB repositions cane and bamboo as reliable and versatile resources for use across agricultural, rural, and urban contexts.

Through research, cultivation, and design-led experimentation, QASAB is committed to bring river beyond its limits, strengthening its durability, structural performance, and practical applicability.

About Qasab Team and network

QASAB is a Syria-based Sustainable Design collective working at the intersection of natural materials, agriculture, architecture, and community-led experimentation.

Our work takes place in real-world conditions, through hands-on experimentation and shared learning. We develop knowledge through practice in real contexts.

We collaborate with multidisciplinary researchers, academics, and practitioners to develop ideas, design, prototype, and test solutions through real-world use, shared learning, and open documentation.

ArduMai LAB

Is a QASAB’s field-based, holistic sustainable-design innovation lab for resilient food systems and climate-responsive community-driven appropriate agro-technologies.