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.

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.”