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Architects are accustomed to working with a variety of materials, but gingerbread typically isn’t one of them. However, five local firms recently got a taste of designing some unusual projects for the exhibition at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

鈥淎 lot of study had to go into what is the strength of a piece of gingerbread,鈥� said Amy Smith, project architect and team leader at LRS Architects. 鈥淚t’s definitely more difficult. We are using materials that we aren’t used to working with.鈥�

LRS Architects, ZGF Architects, Soderstrom Architects, SRG Partnership听补苍诲 Dangermond Keane Architecture were paired with area bakers to create exhibits. This year, Sugar Street Bakery & Bistro, Papa Haydn, JaCiva’s Bakery, Nothing Bundt Cakes and Bon App茅tit Management Co. participated.

Gingerbread creations were put on display at OMSI beginning last month and will continue to stand through New Year’s Day.

鈥淲e just pitched it out wide for everyone that wanted to participate,鈥� OMSI senior events planner Melony Beaird said. 鈥淢ost are Portland based. Finding people that have time to participate is the tough part.鈥�

Once chosen, teams are given a theme that blends with a current exhibit at the museum. This year, the theme for the gingerbread builders was illusion. Each team came up with ideas ranging from skyscrapers and roller coasters to structures in front of mirrors.

鈥淲e met with the baker back in July,鈥� said Colleen Priest, an architect with ZGF Architects. 鈥淲e started talking about the design and what we could do.鈥�

Soderstrom Architects worked with Bon App茅tit Management Co.

鈥淲e played with the idea of illusion,鈥� Soderstrom Architects associate Hugh Bitzer said. 鈥淥ne idea involved a spinning disk that writes a message. Another was creating an M.C. Escher view of Portland. The idea of using mirrors kind of stuck.鈥�

Museum patrons who view the OMSI exhibition will be able to vote for their favorite display. The team responsible for the most popular exhibit will receive a trophy in January. Teams hoping to claim that trophy have to keep their primary audience in mind.

鈥淟ast year we created something that we thought was cool but might not have resonated with the kids,鈥� Priest said. 鈥淲e wanted to be more kid friendly this year.鈥�

Once teams settled on their ideas, building them became the next challenge. Skeletal frames were created for baked material to be pasted onto. Then teams had to determine where to place mechanical devices and how to account for heat produced by lights. The gingerbread itself had to be baked twice so that it was sufficiently sturdy.

鈥淚t’s still edible,鈥� said Risa Mealus, executive pastry chef at Papa Haydn, which teamed with ZGF. 鈥淭here is more flour in it. We had to figure out how to incorporate the elements.鈥�

In today’s architectural world, technology has eliminated the need to build many models. This exhibition gave architects an opportunity to return to their roots and work in the physical realm.

鈥淭his was a nice diversion,鈥� Bitzer said. 鈥淚t was kind of fun 鈥� sort of gave us a chance to get hands dirty.鈥�