Neonomads marked a year-long design-build initiative spearheaded by CAAD Associate Professor Patrick Rhodes and Assistant Professor Gregory Spaw. This program offered immersive, full-scale learning experiences for architecture and interior design students. In collaboration with Sharjah’s Environment and Protected Areas Authority (EPAA), students and faculty crafted prototypical desert survival shelters. These temporary structures, deployed to the environmentally sensitive Elebriddi wildlife site in the Arabian desert, served as research stations for environmental scientists.