In Mongolia, a Traditional Housing Type Meets the Changing Realities of Its Residents

Though the realities of life in Mongolia’s landscapes can be harsh, roughly 40 percent of the country’s people live seminomadically. Even as the country has rapidly urbanized, around one-third of the population still live in gers, tentlike structures that have been central to Mongolian culture for millennia. The design offers housing that’s both reasonably quick to construct and disassemble (important for herders who travel along seasonal routes tending to their livestock) and built to adapt to different weather, which can range from extreme sandstorms during spring to summer hail and winter blizzards.