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.

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

LRS Architects, ZGF Architects, Soderstrom Architects, SRG Partnership�����Ի� 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 Appétit Management Co. participated.

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

“We just pitched it out wide for everyone that wanted to participate,” OMSI senior events planner Melony Beaird said. “Most are Portland based. Finding people that have time to participate is the tough part.”

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.

“We met with the baker back in July,” said Colleen Priest, an architect with ZGF Architects. “We started talking about the design and what we could do.”

Soderstrom Architects worked with Bon Appétit Management Co.

“We played with the idea of illusion,” Soderstrom Architects associate Hugh Bitzer said. “One 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.”

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.

“Last year we created something that we thought was cool but might not have resonated with the kids,” Priest said. “We wanted to be more kid friendly this year.”

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.

“It’s still edible,” said Risa Mealus, executive pastry chef at Papa Haydn, which teamed with ZGF. “There is more flour in it. We had to figure out how to incorporate the elements.”

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.

“This was a nice diversion,” Bitzer said. “It was kind of fun – sort of gave us a chance to get hands dirty.”

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