Gingerbread houses are a fun part of the holiday season. I mean once you’re all out of Halloween candy what better way to continue the sugar rush than to construct an entire building out of jujubes, licorice, and sweet sweet icing?

Photo credit: Mikey G Ottawa on Flickr

Vancouver is known for its gingerbread prowess and has even been home to the world’s largest gingerbread man and house to boot [VacantReady]. However starting next week, we’ll have a whole new set of gingerbread bragging rights when ten of our city’s top architects will be challenged to come up with the “new” gingerbread house. Forget four walls and candy cane picket fences – they need to “reinterpret the gingerbread house within a modern context.”

Creative Room and Vancouver Special are hosting this event where edible creations will be judged based on: “Originality, material expression, edible content, craftsmanship, consideration of landscape, use of lighting, and of course, whimsey.”

Judges are: Patricia Patkau – Principal of Patkau Architects – UBC Professor of Architecture, Ken Lum – Conceptual Artist and Theorist, Christina Ritchie – Curator and Director of the Contemporary Art Gallery

Participants include: Amazing Alphabet People’s Coalition, Battersby Howat, UBC SALA, Stantec with Kreative Artisan Bakery, Bruce Carscadden Architect Inc., D’arcy Jones Design, Bricault Design, Shape Architecture Inc., Measured.Architecture.Inc., Busby Perkins and Will.

All entries will be auctioned off (starting today, November 19th) and all of the proceeds will be donated to the Pivot Legal Society.

At the close of business each day we will take down the bid sheets for each house and, after comparing these with the results of that day’s online auction, will post the winning bids on our website. These bids will be used to establish new daily minimum bids. [Creative Room]

The auction will run until November 25th where judging will take place at a gala event, and auction winners will be announced as well. You can bid online or in person, although online bidding will end early on the 25th.

You can stop by Vancouver Special (3612 Main street) to check out the houses and to place your bid. Tickets for the closing gala are available online for $20.

Pivot Legal Society brings a new and dynamic approach to advocacy on behalf of marginalized persons.