Architects love getting things built. And they love nothing more than getting things built quickly from initial sketch to finished constructions.
The Architecture Bake Off has been a key part of the London Festival of Architecture for many years. Each year London’s leading architecture practices have competed fiercely against each other, bringing together their architects to design and bake some of London’s best-loved building – in cake form. This requires them to think about structure, form, detailing, composition and the façade of the cake! As well as taste.
This year’s traditional LFA will now take place later in the year. But our new LFA Digital festival will take place throughout June. And we’re delighted to announce that the Architecture Bake Off will return this year in digital form to allow more people to bake and create from home.
Architects and others will be invited to enter from their own homes. We’re delighted to have the support of Miele to make this happen.
Entering
Registration will be available on the LFA website from Wednesday 29th April. Entry for each category costs £5 with all entry fees going towards NHS Charities Together. Entries can come from anywhere in the world.
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Categories
There will be three categories this year
- Architecture Practice
- One individual from the architecture practice must be selected to represent the practice and must bake the cake in their own home (but help from those in their home will be allowed). We suggest practices hold heats to select their entrant. The person representing the practice must be an architect or architecture student in their respective country. The LFA will help promote those practices taking part in the heats online and via social media. Category winner and runner-up will be announced.
- Individual
- For the first time this year non-architects will be able to enter the competition – this includes members of the public, but also engineers, surveyors, etc. Can they beat the architects? Category winner and runner-up will be announced.
- Children’s Prize
- This is a great opportunity to get children thinking about architecture and the form and shape of buildings – as well as having some fun in the kitchen. We will be offering prizes for the best cake made by (or with) children under 13. Those over 13 can enter the individual prize (though in the interest of safety should be supervised in the kitchen). The involvement of the children must be documented through the baking process as proof they’ve not received undue adult help! Category winner and runner-up will be announced.
Entrants can come from anywhere in the world – although the prize from Miele is only available for delivery in the UK
Image credit: Tom Horton
Winners
Our jury will select a winner and runners up in each category. The three category winners will then be put to a public vote.
LFA Benefactor Miele has offered up one of its most popular ovens – the touch-control VitroLine Oven in striking Graphite Grey glass – to the overall winner. This is valued at £2,299 and has the latest tech from moisture injection to automatic cool down to help you take your baking to the next level (for UK-based entrants only).
Timetable
- 29 April – Registration opens on LFA Website
Registration will be open from 29 April to 22nd May.
- 4 May – 10 May – Heats
Architecture practices can hold their own heats – both to practise and to select their best cake baker to represent the practice. Because baking will take place at home, practices will need to select one entrant to represent the practice for the competition. They can do this by running their own heats as an internal competition.
- 1 June – Bake Off Starts
The LFA’s Digital Architecture Festival will run throughout June and will start with the Architecture Bake Off. At 9am on 1st June the LFA will announce the names of five building to all registered entrants. Entrants will then have 7 days (until 9am on Monday 8th June) to bake one of the five buildings, document their creation through videos and photos and submit these for judging via the LFA website.
- 8 June – Final Deadline
Final Deadline for submission of video and photos documenting your baking and final creation (although we suggest you submit over the weekend)
- 9 – 10 June – Judging
Sadly the judges will not be able to taste your creations, so points will be awarded appearance, daring, structural integrity and creativity. As they can’t taste your cake they’ll rely on the creativity and imagination of your videos to show the cake tasting. Try to make your photos and videos fun as they’ll be shared online. We suggest you also submit videos of yourself and your family tasting your cakes for the judges to consider!
- 11 June – Results and Winners
The jury will announce the category winners of the LFA 2020 Online Architecture Bake Off via a live video on the LFA website. Exact time TBC
These winners will then be put to a public vote with the overall winner announced at the end of the festival
Jury
Catherine Dwyer, City of London Corporation
Tom Ravenscroft, Editor Dezeen,
Representative of Miele,
Representative of LFA
Additional TBC
