While marine and forest restoration efforts can often get more attention, desert restoration is also a vital part of environmental efforts. In China, for instance, there has been a growing interest in restoring desert ecosystems with the goal of reducing the risk of sandstorms and combating desertification through the planting of trees, shrubs and grasses to create a “desert-locking forest.” The work involved in planting and maintaining these forests in the arid desert is, as one might imagine, extremely arduous. In a bid to improve the conditions for the volunteer rangers on desert duty, sustainability-focused design studio designRESERVE has built a modular shelter system, called Desert Ark, in the Tengger Desert in Inner Mongolia.