Mushroom houses for Gaza? Arab designers offer home-grown innovations

Dubai: As winter descends on Gaza s tent cities, emergency housing made from mushrooms could keep out the cold just one of several sustainable, hom...

Dubai: As winter descends on Gaza's tent cities, emergency housing made from mushrooms could keep out the cold -- just one of several sustainable, home-grown innovations put forward by Arab designers at an expo in Dubai.

Lightweight, warm and versatile, mushroom-based structures are an appealing alternative to the flimsy shelters now housing many thousands of Gazans displaced by more than a year of war, according to Dima Al Srouri, a member of the ReRoot initiative.

"Right now, there is a huge problem with the shelters that they're receiving from NGOs," she said at Dubai Design Week, which featured a range of environment-friendly innovations.

"When the winter comes, when it rains, when it's too cold, they're not working really."

Mycelium, the root-like part of a fungus, can be grown in combination with organic matter to fit different-shaped moulds, producing a strong building material that can be cultivated anywhere.