Architects swapped traditional building materials for sugar and spice to create an edible gingerbread city of the future at London's V&A Museum, to show that urban planning can be fun, and tasty.
The annual exhibition, which is put together by London's Museum of Architecture, runs from December 8 to January 6 and showcases buildings by architects, designers and engineers who had been asked to create a sustainable and inclusive city of the future.
A structure built by a robot from architects Foster and Partners is seen at the Museum of Architecture's Gingerbread City at the V&A Museum, in London, Britain, December 5, 2018. /VCG Photo
“We design and we work a lot in model making, and at this scale as well,” said Robert Nolan, an architect at APT.
“If you can see yourself having fun with just gingerbread and then transplant that to something a bit more realistic, actually it's not too far off and actually design is fun.”
More than 60 structures have been baked and the city features a cable car made of licorice, and cycle lanes and pedestrian route made entirely of sugar, while Holland Harvey Architects designed a modern homeless shelter.
A structure called Eye Candy Gallery is seen at the Museum of Architecture's Gingerbread City at the V&A Museum, in London, Britain, December 5, 2018. /VCG Photo
“We had to be very careful when making it that suddenly you might be halfway through making something and then be like ‘oh, wait, where did that piece go? Oh, we've actually gone and eaten it',” Nolan said.
(Cover: Architect's gingerbread structures are seen at the Museum of Architecture's Gingerbread City at the V&A Museum, in London, Britain, December 5, 2018. /VCG Photo)