h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Glass fibre mud huts

Posted Nov 17, 2001

While talking to a friend recently about the homeless people of Afghanistan living in tents in the bitterly cold and windy desert, I remembered a couple of programmes on TV in the dim and distant past that related to instant housing.

One, was a way of spraying an instant dome 'mud hut' made from, if I remember correctly, mud and glass or carbon fibre sprayed over a form. Trouble is, it must have been over a decade since I saw the programme and cannot now remember much about it.

The other idea I think I have a bead on, was cardboard survival huts used in the arctic. Everything was made from cardboard including the beds, tables and chairs. The only problem my friend could foresee was that the cardboard may not stand up to the weather in Afghanistan or Pakistan as the arctic is so cold there is little external humidity.

I was wondering if anyone out in h2g2 land thought these possibilities were a) feasible and b) could recall the programme or the inventor or anyone connected with it, in order to come up with a reasonably warm and dry alternative to tents and or bombed homes.

What do you think?

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Latest reply: Nov 17, 2001