Sweet ideas in a city with more carbs than cars
● Architects swapped steel and concrete 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 exhibition, put together by London’s Museum of Architecture, opened yesterday and runs until January 8. It showcases buildings by architects, designers and engineers who were asked to create a sustainable and inclusive city of the future.
The fully lit construction includes houses, office blocks, landmarks and bridges, as well as a cinema, library, city farm, sports stadium and botanical gardens.
“We design and we work a lot in modelmaking, and at this scale as well,” said Robert Nolan of architecture firm Apt.
“If you can see yourself having fun with just gingerbread and then transplant that to something a bit more realistic, actually it’s fun.”
More than 60 structures have been baked. The city features a cable car made of liquorice and cycle lanes and pedestrian routes made entirely of sugar, while Holland Harvey Architects designed a modern homeless shelter.
“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.
The Evening Standard reported that highlights of the exhibition include the SugarLoop, a transport system with a light rail, cable car and cycle pathways; the Hot Cross Pub with a microbrewery; and the Curdzon Cinema, which uses hydroponics to power the screen.
The homeless shelter with community cafe, local shop and work space focuses attention on the 7,500 people sleeping rough on London’s streets every year. — Reuters