The competition is ON this year for the greenest gingerbread house! We’ve already seen Michelle Kaufman’s gingerSolaire, which premiered at the beginning of December, but now, HOK has entered the ring with their triplex, LEED Platinum for Homes design. HOK’s design incorporates a number of sugar-inspired eco specs. Hershey’s Chocolate solar panels and gumdrop wind turbines generate candy-power for the homes while black licorice rainwater collectors reduce irrigation needs. The homes even have a ground source heat pump buried underground, and what looks like green jelly bean and M&M roof terraces.
The architecture is classic and tasteful, with traditional lines and ginger motifs, pitched roofs and nice symmetry. What we like about HOK’s design is the community they have built and that it is not just one single house. Just because gingerbread houses are based on fantasy does not mean they can’t pose important points about community and practicality. Additionally we noticed, that the houses are terraced on a hill, making playful use of green jellybeans and using the hill’s terrain to their advantage.
Last year, MK started the trend with her gingerLotus a prefab based on her mkLotus. We really enjoy seeing these confectionery dream homes and encourage the competition. HOK competed this year as part of the 2008 Habitat for Humanity Gingerbread Build, which auctions off the homes to raise money to build Habitat For Humanity homes. Congratulations to Sarah Ferguson, Reem Abood, Vivian Gabrail, Jenny Hyatt, Genny Rose, Tania Ursomarzo & Carmen Cheung at HOK Toronto for building such a terrific gingerbread home. We could just eat it up!
+ HOK
via Treehugger
[...] HOK LEED PLATINUM GINGERBREAD HOUSE [...]