Eindhoven designer Erez Nevi Pana is exploring ways to turn the 20 million tons of salt at the bottom of the Dead Sea’s fifth pond into compressed tiles.
The salt is the waste from the abundant production of potash and bromine in the Dead Sea Works factory and the mineral is piling up at the bottom of the pond, causing water levels to rise.
As a result, the hotels on the sea's shore face flooding and collapse.
The problem led Pana to investigate ways in which the residual salt could be utilised to produce marketable materials or objects.
At the 2014 Dutch Design Weeek, Pana presented the ‘Recrystallizing The Desert’ project – a concept that uses solar energy to create compressed salt tiles.
Using a method of solar heating and layering, the mineral changes from solid crystals to a liquid, and then back to a tile-shaped solid state.
The salt can be combined with clay powder for water resistance and the tiles can be used like marble for flooring and walls.
Pana created a conceptual ‘Recrystallized Hotel’ to demonstrate the material being used both structurally and for decorative purposes.
Video: Erez Nevi Pana via Vimeo
Courtesy Inhabitat
