MusHouse

The challenge

The low altitude in the Netherlands makes the soil unstable, which makes some places unsuitable for housing projects. Weak soil prevents tall buildings and decreases the number of people per household. This makes housing expensive and limited, while people migrating to and born in the Netherlands surges. Also, building a house requires a lot of unrenewable resources, heat, and space. These factors lead up to an affordable housing crisis in the Netherlands. More specifically, this problem affects international students and challenges them severely during their studies, a group which Netherlands benefit a lot from.

The solution

Our solution is to build a boathouse using floating and sustainable material obtained from the mycelium of a fungus. While mycelium will allow the boathouse to float, the fibers inside the mycelium will allow the boathouse to withstand strong winds due to its elasticity. It is cheaper than the traditional building materials such as sand and concrete, so it will be more affordable. Also, building on the water will be cheaper due to deduction of the cost of land. Mycelium will isolate the heat so it will make heating cheaper.

Mission

Our company's mission is to build affordable housing using sustainable materials such as mycelium (part of a fungus)