UAE-Based Studio Transforms Date Seeds into Innovative Materials

In a region where architecture contends with extremes such as harsh sun, shifting sands and scarce natural resources, ARDH Collective, a UAE-based design practice, is quietly reconceptualising how buildings and interiors are conceived. Founded by Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi, the collective emerged from two separate university projects rooted in sustainability, material research and the specific conditions of the UAE.

“My background is in product design and design engineering,” Ahmed tells SceneHome. “In university, our first project focused on sustainability goals. We were investigating the UAE and looking at what resources were consumed in high volumes. The idea was to identify a waste by-product we could transform into something useful.”

The answer came unexpectedly over coffee and dates. “We were served dates and noticed that the coffee cups would be washed and reused, but the seeds were thrown away," Ahmed says. "It sparked a question about why these seeds, which are plentiful, were being discarded every day.” Further research revealed the scale of the issue. “Even a small facility processing dates can generate between three and five tons of date seed waste daily, because of seedless dates, date sugars, cakes and machinery that removes seeds. It was a locally abundant material that no one was using, and that made it compelling.”

Through extensive testing, pivoting and experimentation, ARDH Collective transformed this overlooked by-product into Dateform, the world’s first date-seed-based material. “After many trials and failures, we developed Dateform as a sheet material that can be used in interiors and product design,” Ahmed says. “It has been applied as wall and ceiling cladding, table tops, space dividers, public installations, flooring and corporate gifting items. Each project surprises us in how people choose to use it.”

The process behind Dateform is deliberately hands-on and controlled. “We collect the seeds directly from farms and factories," Ahmed explains. "Once they come off the machinery that separates fruit and seed, they require extensive washing to remove residue. After drying, we roast the seeds to make them softer, then powderise them. From there, we compose them into sheets, combined with plywood to create panels that are easy to handle and install.”

While Dateform addresses agricultural waste, the studio's second product, Dunecrete, responds to a broader construction challenge. “Traditional concrete requires riverbed or marine sand, much of which is imported from Canada, Australia, India or Indonesia,” Ahmed explains. “Sand is one of the world’s fastest-depleting natural resources after water. If we continue building the way we are, we could run out in the next 50 years. It is also ecologically damaging, with coastlines in some regions receding by kilometres due to extraction.”

ARDH Collective turned instead to the desert sands surrounding the UAE, developing Dunecrete, a low-carbon concrete alternative that matches the strength of conventional concrete. “We experimented extensively to understand how desert sand could perform in construction. The result is a material that can be cast, pigmented and even 3D-printed. It allows us to rethink how concrete is used,” Ahmed says.

Dunecrete has already been applied across a range of projects. “We recently completed a project using red Dunecrete blocks decoratively. In another, we used it as a final floor finish, where the structure and surface are unified in one material. This reduces construction steps and still delivers high performance. We are also using it for outdoor furniture, public installations and structural walls for smaller homes.”

For designers entering the field, Ahmed's advice is practical rather than idealistic. “It is exciting to develop a new material, but the real challenge and reward comes from scaling it and showing its potential through real products and built projects. That is when people begin to trust it.”