Deserts are often described as tabulae rasae, as spaces deprived of life, blank locations ready to be occupied, a centuries-old representational scheme which legitimises a constant violence towards them. Consequently, deserts are not seen as part of a wider ecology, as places where life is negotiated. They are understood instead as lacking life. Desert images are contrasted to the lush vegetation of Northern Europe and America. Within the latter, many dominant architectural relationships have found their place — such as from the picturesque, Art Nouveau, to sustainable architecture. But as Samia Henni brilliantly points out in the introduction to this volume — and a fact that is highlighted by its various contributors — deserts do not lack life. They are not empty, nor are they spaces devoid of histories or politics. Most especially, they are not empty of architectural entanglements.