Gingerbread house for Norwegian Refugee Council
Shining a light on the need for shelter
2024
Introduction
For the second year in a row, Snøhetta has collaborated with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) to design a unique gingerbread house – building on the old Norwegian tradition of creating and decorating gingerbread houses for Christmas. This year’s edition is an untraditional house consisting of five repeated, hollow frames, together creating a void symbolizing a home that is no more. The design template can be purchased as part of NRC’s Christmas campaign “Give a Home for Christmas”, where all sales and donations go to their work in helping people in need to find shelter.
"With more than 120 million refugees worldwide, shelter is one of the most important assets we can provide to help those in need. Lives depend on rooms protecting against heat, cold, rain and wind. Our gingerbread non-house will hopefully encourage people to support NRC to fill in the missing walls and roofs,” says Snøhetta co-founder Kjetil Trædal Thorsen.
Last year, the sale of the gingerbread houses generated over 900,000 NOK in revenue to NRC. Additionally, several businesses made significant donations linked to the campaign.
Technical details
Norwegian Refugee Council
Photo: Beate Simarud
Photo: Beate Simarud
Helps millions of people yearly
A place to live is a basic human need and essential for safety, health, work, education and family life. However, each year millions of innocent people are forced to flee and left without a safe haven. Yearly, NRC helps almost 10 million people across 40 countries, including some of the most acute crises, in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan.
This effort includes building new and repairing broken homes, providing support for building materials, supporting host families, or building and refurbishing public buildings or refugee camps so that they can house displaced families. NRC also provide legal assistance, so that those who return home can get their houses back.
Photo: JCDecaux
Visuals: Shestakovych Studio
This gingerbread house is more than just a structure – it's a symbol of something that no longer exists. The design builds on the narrative of absence and represents lost homes. Through its simplicity and fragility, it communicates an important message that what we all want is a world where we can live and flourish together without the shadow of conflict hanging over us.
NRC is optimistic that the funds raised through this year’s "Give a home for Christmas” campaign will succeed last year’s results. Furthermore, the goal is that the gingerbread house also helps raise awareness and engagement for people fleeing conflict, thereby increasing both donations and generosity for the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Christmas campaign and important work at large.
Photo: Snøhetta
Photo: Beate Simarud
Photo: Beate Simarud
The template for the gingerbread house 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 NRC's website in digital or physical version. See links below.
You can also get the template outside of Norway via the international link below. Whatever you choose, all sales and donations will go entirely towards the Christmas campaign, helping to shelter some of the millions of people fleeing war and conflict right now.
Support NRC and get your template (Norway):
Support NRC and get your template (Global):
Photo: Snøhetta
Photo: Snøhetta
Photo: Snøhetta
Photo: Snøhetta
Photo: Snøhetta
Photo: JCDecaux
Photo: JCDecaux