Buttersea Power Station
How do you design a super sustainable power station for a Gingerbread City? It takes imagination, lots of waste sugar and close collaboration with the gingerbread people of course!
We put user experience at the forefront of all our designs – for us, that’s the icing on the cake. We listened to the gingerbread people and understood their concerns for the future of their city.
Old meets new
Our plot was located in the Sustainable Quarter of the city where an existing industrial warehouse had fallen into disrepair. With sustainability in mind, we chose to re-purpose the ruins and bring the building back to life using modern interventions.
Energy from waste
Sugar and sweetie waste is collected from the city’s inhabitants and delivered to our site via boat and tram. Once unloaded, the ribbon candy conveyor belt transfers the waste to the confectionary sorting hall where it is separated and stored in the vault. Each type of sugar is processed accordingly to generate sustainable syrup energy for the city.
Sugar power
We used a real pick ‘n’ mix: gingerbread, biscuits, chocolate, jelly beans and plenty of sugar, as well as unwanted sweeties past their sell-by-date. Everything was edible and compostable – no hidden structures!
Our star bakers
The Gingerbread City has become a Christmas tradition for our London team. They love participating because anything is possible with gingerbread. They can truly let their imaginations run wild as they whip up a vision of a scrumptious future city.
But most importantly, they hope their tasty designs help to inspire the next generation of city-shapers! Or at least get people thinking about the kind of places they want to live, work and play in.
