Cadogan is pleased to announce that The Gingerbread City has arrived in Chelsea at its newly completed landmark development on the King’s Road, The Gaumont.
The annual exhibition challenges top architects and designers to construct an entire city using only gingerbread and sweets, aiming to inspire conversations about cities and how we live in them in a fun, accessible way. Now a London Christmas tradition, it has previously been hosted at venues including the V&A Museum and Somerset House and features the UK’s most exciting practices including Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), Foster + Partners and AHMM. This year’s event takes on the theme of ‘Recycled City’, imagining how existing buildings and places could be transformed into something new and exciting; visitors will be entertained by a series of scaled down biscuity buildings and landscapes, including a Hornby train display and children’s building area.
Organised by Museum of Architecture (MoA), a charity dedicated to connecting the public with architecture and design in playful and exciting ways, it will be held this year at The Gaumont, 196-222 King’s Road, a revitalised Art Deco landmark which embodies Cadogan’s long-term ambition to create a new commercial and cultural anchor for the King’s Road. Due to open in 2025 and originally a grand cinema, the 220,000 sq ft mixed use development features a meticulously restored heritage façade and will comprise a rooftop bar with panoramic views from Big Ben to Battersea, a 600-seat cinema, enhanced Waitrose, flagship retail, creative space, office accommodation and 47 residential apartments, as well as an extraordinary art installation by renowned London-based artist Shezad Dawood.
Melissa Woolford, Founder and Director of MoA and The Gingerbread City, comments, “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. The Gaumont is a perfect location and great showcase for community-focused placemaking and urban revitalisation.”
Hugh Seaborn, CEO of Cadogan, says “It is rare to find a project that both engages the industry on important challenges facing our built environment, while capturing people’s wider imagination with something quite so appealing. This magical gingerbread metropolis is a lot of festive fun and a great opportunity for us to celebrate community and creativity in a way that we hope The Gaumont will continue, as a legacy as part of a wider revitalisation plan for one of the world’s most famous high streets.”
The Gingerbread City is open from 30th November until the 29th December, and tickets are available now through The Gingerbread City’s official website: The Gingerbread City®.
