A unique form of housing - the Bait Al Shaar, or house of hair used by the Bedouins - is capturing the interest of visitors to the Heritage Village every evening. Bedouin women are engaged in producing the tent onsite, starting with making thread out of sheep/goat hair and then weaving the thread into fabric before finally sewing the sheets of fabric into a tent.

"Bait Al Shaar is woven from the hair of domesticated goats and sheep and can be seen in its various stages of production from hair to the finished tent at the Heritage Village," said Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing Director Operations and Marketing, Mohammed Khamis bin Hareb. He said Bedouin women meticulously make thread from goat hair and this thread is then woven into strips of unfinished cloth.

"In the old days, it took two women a couple of hours of work every day for around eight to 10 months to weave one strip about seven metres long and 13 to 15 such strips were needed to make one tent big enough to accommodate a family of about five people." Once the strips are woven, they are sewn together with thread made from black goat hair.

The natural colour of the animal hair is retained with scattered strands of sheep's wool, which gives the tent a blackish-brown semblance. Once the strips are sewn together, they are raised using tent poles with ropes to keep the sides upright. The roof of the tent is designed in such a manner that it does not get blown away in storms that are frequent in the desert.

The Bait Al Shaar provides shade from the hot sun and shields on chilly winter nights in the desert. "Even though the colour black is known to absorb heat, it is still a good 10 to 15degrees cooler inside the tent than outside," said bin Hareb. During the monsoon, the knitting thread expands on getting wet, closing the holes in the stitches and stopping seepage.

The fibre of goat hair is naturally oily, which also helps in repelling rain water. For functionality and endurance, the Bait Al Shaar is still the most popular form of housing among the Bedouin.