Battersea Power Station, Brighton Pavilion, the London Eye, the Royal Opera House and Smithfield Market and many more have been given a gingerbread makeover by top architects for this year’s The Gingerbread City exhibition, which opened on Saturday 30 November on London’s King’s Road in Chelsea.
The Museum of Architecture, the UK charity behind the annual festive exhibition, challenged top UK architects and designers to create buildings - real or imagined - in response to a “Recycled City” theme.
This “recycling” of buildings showcases the transformation and conversion of old places and buildings into something new and revitalised. Practical as well as inspiring, this “recycling” can address challenges like housing, education, transport, culture and climate - breathing new life and purpose into our cities and towns, preserving heritage and addressing today’s social and environmental challenges.
Over 45 architectural practices have made a gingerbread structure for the exhibition, which is being staged at The Gaumont building on Chelsea’s King’s Road - itself a 14 year re-development project that has reshaped one of London’s iconic shopping destinations.
The Gingerbread City aims to inspire conversations about cities and how we live in them. This year’s visitors will be able to discover a series of scaled down biscuity buildings and landscapes, many inspired by real-life “recycled” buildings including the Truman Brewery in London’s East End, Spitbank Fort in Portsmouth, Chimney Pot Park in Salford, Hay Castle, Hay-on-Wye, Wales and Devonport House at the University of Greenwich. Many buildings have been used as inspiration for “dream” projects like the cosy residential scheme under London’s streets using the London Underground tunnels and stations at Baker Street, West Kensington and Ladbroke Grove and Space House, a Brutalist icon originally built in the 1960s reimagined in 2080 as a climate monitoring facility.
Melissa Woolford, Founder and Director of MoA and The Gingerbread City, said: “For centuries, cities like London have been transforming and converting old places and buildings into new and exciting spaces. The Gingerbread City brings together leading architects and designers to inspire us to think about sustainable design, breathing new life into our environment while preserving its heritage.”
Location: The Gaumont, Chelsea, 196-222 King's Rd, London SW3 5XP
Dates: Saturday 30 November to Sunday 29 December
Prices: Adult £13 / Child £8 / Concessions £11
Tickets: www.thegingerbreadcity.com or on the door
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Press release and photos courtesy of Museum of Architecture (MoA)
Photos © Luke O_Donovan
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