Ola Znad has spent three years studying how the Ahwari people build with reed, a tradition central to ahwari reed architecture. The Ahwari, also called Marsh Arabs, live in the wetlands of southern Iraq. Now their techniques are on view in Doha, where Znad has turned them into furniture and a proposal for a new public space.
Her work appears in two Doha exhibitions. Her furniture is part of Design Doha 2026, which runs from 5 November 2026 to 31 January 2027. A separate installation sits within the Fahad Bin Ali Palace exhibition, Beyti Beytak: My Home is Your Home, open until 29 May 2027.
Learning from the marshes
Znad was born in Baghdad. She moved to Bahrain with her family after the Iraq war began in 2003, when she was eight. She still lives there. Her focus on ahwari reed architecture is also a way of reconnecting with the country she left.
Znad’s seating also raises a question about who gets to linger in public. Angled benches that foster social public spaces offer a related take on that idea.
She sees the marshes as under threat. “Environmental changes, upstream dams and the drying of the marshes threaten not only the livelihoods of the Marsh Arab communities, but also the knowledge and craft traditions that have evolved alongside this landscape,” she says. “My work explores how we can bring attention to this heritage while supporting its continuity.”
Her path to the community began during her master’s in architecture at University College Dublin. With help from a Unesco worker, she made contact. Her early research revealed a gap. “The only books I could find were written by anthropologists from the West. There was nothing by an Iraqi person, which provoked me to dig deeper.”
Znad has never visited the wetland islands because she cannot return to Iraq for personal reasons. She speaks with community members regularly on WhatsApp. Through those conversations, she learns how the buildings are made and used. “It is not just about structural form, but also about the collective knowledge, labour and care that bring it into being,” she says.
Reed in ahwari reed architecture
In 2024, Znad rebuilt a mudhif, a communal gathering house, in the Dubai Design District during the city’s design week. She worked with Ahwari artisans on the project. The mudhif’s vaulted shape, a defining feature of ahwari reed architecture, comes from the material itself. Builders push bundles of reed into the ground, bend them and bind them under tension. Woven reed mats then close the enclosure. The result is naturally ventilated and tied closely to the landscape around it.
Znad values reed for its performance as well as its tradition. “Reeds are very durable and flexible. They’re water resistant and don’t get affected by heat and humidity, which makes them ideally suited to Middle Eastern climates. When you bend them, they don’t break, so they are also good for design experimentation.”
Her first installation focused on respect and trust. “They have ownership over this typology, so it was important to respect that,” she says. Over time, the conversations broadened. “We’ve begun exploring different iterations and forms together. It’s been an organic process.”
From ceremony to furniture
Her furniture collection, Shabbah, was shown in the Arab Design Now exhibition at Design Doha. It grew out of discussions about the ceremonies and feasts held inside mudhifs. “It is rooted in the spirit of hospitality, gathering and quiet resilience, each piece inviting pause and presence,” she says.
The collection is made from reeds harvested by the community. It includes a long table, stools, benches and chairs. Each piece borrows a detail from ahwari reed architecture and scales it down. A bench uses a curved reed bundle. The table top is a reed mat woven by community members, echoing the façade of the mudhif. A concave armchair is built from ropes of crushed reed, the same kind used to tie bundles on the islands.
Znad treats the pieces as prototypes for a limited-edition line suited to outdoor public areas and interiors. She points to a practical problem. “All too often, seating in public spaces is made from concrete, which overheats. Reed remains comfortably cool.”
For another example of outdoor seating built from natural timber at a large scale, see Haywood Mall’s Parametric Timber Bench by Zorka Furniture, a bench designed for shared public use.
She also pays community members for their materials and craft skills. “It’s important that this research goes beyond documenting a tradition. It also creates opportunities for the people who continue to carry that knowledge, supporting its transmission to future generations.”
A marketplace for women
Her conversations revealed another need. Mudhifs are mainly meeting places for men, and women had few dedicated spaces for daily work and social life. “I realised they were thirsty for a place to gather,” she says.
Znad responded with Souk Al Liqa. The design takes the mudhif, a form of vernacular architecture, and stretches it into a circular, doughnut-like form with an open centre. “Souk Al Liqa is designed as a marketplace for women, somewhere they can make and sell their crafts, cook and socialise,” she says. “It also honours the huge role women play in the construction [of villages], which hasn’t been highlighted before.”
Women weave the reed façades of the mudhif, a key element of ahwari reed architecture. At Fahad Bin Ali Palace, photographs of their hands at work will be displayed inside the installation, each credited with the maker’s name. An audio piece will recreate the sounds of daily life in the marshlands.
Together, the two projects honour ancient crafts while drawing attention to an ecological crisis. They also suggest a future in which design and wetland restoration work together. “[The furniture collection] is about showing how we can create contemporary pieces that honour our heritage, while giving artisans and Indigenous peoples access to the market.”
Source: wallpaper.com
Frequently asked questions
Who are the Ahwari people, also known as Marsh Arabs?
The Ahwari, also called Marsh Arabs, live in the wetlands of southern Iraq. Their reed building techniques are the focus of Ola Znad’s work.
Where can Ola Znad’s reed furniture be seen in Doha?
Her furniture is part of Design Doha 2026, which runs from 5 November 2026 to 31 January 2027. A separate installation is in the Fahad Bin Ali Palace exhibition, Beyti Beytak: My Home is Your Home, open until 29 May 2027.
What is a mudhif and how is it built?
A mudhif is a communal gathering house made of reed. Builders push reed bundles into the ground, bend them and bind them under tension, then close the enclosure with woven reed mats.
Why does Znad consider reed a good material for design?
Reed is durable, flexible, and water resistant, and it is not affected by heat and humidity. Because it does not break when bent, it also suits design experimentation.
More in
Furniture
All Furniture
More like this
Impromptu Projects Builds a 13-Meter Bamboo Pagoda on Macau's Sai Van Lake
Celebrating Indigenous Architecture: Ancient Techniques in Modern Design Across the Globe
Innovative Angled Bench Design Creates Social, Transaction-Free Public Spaces
19th-Century Dinosaur Sculptures Meticulously Restored in London's Crystal Palace Park
