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. It’s “a healthy material because it’s fully natural”, urban planning expert Srouri, who is Palestinian, said next to a prototype shelter — a roomy, enclosed structure with windows and a sloping roof.
“It’s something that can provide the solution to extreme weather conditions to protect them from the extreme cold.” ReRoot’s emergency housing was not the only example of sustainable Arab design at the annual exhibition in Dubai, which closed on Sunday. Contrasting with the towering high-rises that dominate the city’s skyline, Emirati ar.
