New techniques to use dates palm fronds in architectural and product design applications

Every year in the Middle East, date palm farmers cut thousands of palm fronds as a kind of maintenance. As a result, most of these fronds are disposed either by burning or shredding. However, before the discovery of oil, the fronds were one of the most important raw materials used in house construction and furniture manufacturing. In fact, date palm fronds have many unique characteristics in terms of rigidity and flexibility, and are advantageous in their availability and economically, which make them a reliable raw material. For these reasons, this research will look into date palm history and impact on culture, society, and religions to build fundamental knowledge about the date palm. In addition, the agricultural side of the date palm will be explored in detail and we will focus on both its traditional and contemporary uses as well as the specific techniques employed when working with them. Finally, the palm frond’s behavior will be analyzed through several fabrication experiments that apply contemporary and digital tools and fabrication methods to rejuvenate the use of date palm fronds in contemporary architecture and product design.