Snøhetta gingerbread house provide shelter for refugees

In collaboration with the Norwegian Refugee Council, Snøhetta has made an untraditional gingerbread house to bake at home. The unique house has a large, sloping roof and a façade with many small windows in a decorative pattern that invites creative expression.

"We have emphasized giving the gingerbread house a fun and slightly untraditional shape. It has a double-height room with a large and generous ceiling surface that can be decorated and populated with gingerbread people, animals or trees," says architect Ingebjørg Skaare, who designed the house together with Snøhetta intern Andreas Kamark.

The template for the gingerbread house, developed by Snøhetta Design, can be purchased either as part of a full baking set with dough, baking glue and garnish at grocery delivery service Oda, or by itself at flyktninghjelpen.no, in digital or physical version. Whatever you choose, all profits go to NRC's Christmas campaign, helping to shelter some of the 100 million people fleeing war and conflict right now.

"Having a roof over your head is one thing, but what is it like to have a home? The idea is that when you buy and build the house and put a light inside it, it creates some reflections both physically and mentally. It's a terrible situation many places in the world now," says Skaare.