Christmastime isn’t truly complete without gingerbread houses. While most of these candy-coated structures usually stimulate our sweet tooth rather than our sense of architectural splendor, one holiday-themed exhibition in London has shown that celebrating the holiday season and appreciating good design can go hand in hand.
Housed in a pop-up space curated by London’s Museum of Architecture, "Gingerbread City" brings together some of the brightest minds in architecture, design, and urban planning to plot out a miniature version of an idealized cityscape plotted by Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design. Now in its second year, the event has drawn major firms including Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects to construct everything from major landmarks to residential buildings from gingerbread, candy canes, and frosting. Though supports could prop up their designs behind the scenes, the Tibbalds brief specified that every visible architectural element must be edible. The end result is a captivating, festive cityscape that exudes warmth and wonder.
Though certainly an awe-inspiring way to get in the Christmas spirit, "Gingerbread City" has a grander purpose. According to Museum of Architecture director Melissa Woolford, shrinking the scale of architecture in this whimsical way is meant to open up new avenues of understanding for the public. “We want to inspire people to care about how their city is taking shape and what impact the built environment has on the way they live,” she says, “Whether it is children learning about various building types to adults sharing new ideas about creating healthier spaces, we want to take this opportunity to get people excited about architecture and empower them with knowledge to bring into their everyday lives.”
As the Museum of Architecture is a charity organization, proceeds from ticket sales will help fund another year of events and educational programming. The current theme of its panel discussions is “Undervalued,” an investigation of the intersection of economics and architecture as it relates to everything from the UK’s housing shortages to new ideas for urban development.
Although "Gingerbread City" wraps up its holiday season on December 22, you can still take a look at some of the exemplary works of edible design put forth by Emrys Architects, Periscope, ZHA, and many others below.
