Concrete Mushroom Bunkers Might Become Eco Hostels

Concrete Mushrooms is the idea proposed by graduate students Gyler Mydyti and Elian Stefa, who want to turn over 750,000 abandoned concrete mushroom bunkers across Albania into a network of eco-hostels, cafes, gift shops and more.

It is worth mentioning that the concrete mushrooms were built during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, the first communist head of state of Albania.

Despite the fact that the plan is only in the proposal stage, the idea is really inspiring, with students having the goal not only to make environmentally-friendly habitable hostels, but also to reclaim the constructions symbolically.

The two graduate students offered a 105-pages proposal, which says that there are 3 major sizes of bunkers located in different regions of the country. Mushroom bunkers should be selected carefully and the network of tourist services should give a certain assignment to each bunker, tanking into consideration the location and size of the concrete mushroom. Thus the tourism industry could attract more visitors and offer new working places across Albania. Download PDF here.