the incredible edible gingerbread house

People often assume that as a writer I must come from a family of writers.  Nope.  There are no other writers in my family, but what we do have is more than our fair share of architects.  When my little brother followed in my father's footsteps and set up shop with two friends as Alma-nac Collaborative Architecture, it was clear he was going to be an architect of the most quirky, inspired and creative variety.  Well, maybe that's the best kind of architect to be in these times of economic crisis.  It means, at least, that alongside the house extensions, school developments, and eco-homes, you can also land yourself some of the most bizarre and barmy of architectural commissions.  Such as being asked to design and build....a giant edible gingerbread house!

This project is absolutely mad and I love it!  Hours of wild brainstorming went into dreaming up the myriad whimsical features: a popcorn-popping chimney, a chandelier constructed entirely of gummi sweets, inner walls clad with waffles and pink wafers, a sky made of metre-diameter sky-blue balloons, chocolate furniture, curtains fabricated from candy necklaces, an edible jelly rat in the fire place, a cupcake lawn, a welcome mat of cake, and over 2000 gingerbread shingles baked by master bakers Konditor & Cook. 

The weekend will also see a host of events tailored around the house, including storytelling sessions, gingerbread men master classes by bespoke cupcake queen Lily Vanilli, and a ginormous gingerbread journal in which visitors young and old are asked to contribute to an ongoing collaborative fairytale.

The giant edible gingerbread house has taken over 600 man-hours to build (I'll post a video below) and Alma-nac are hoping it will last out the weekend before greedy visitors scoff the lot.  Do be warned though, it has been calculated that the construction materials contain over a million calories, but hey, the project is in aid of Great Ormond's Street Hospital Chldren's Charity, so while you're indulging at least you can console yourself that it's all for a good cause.