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Sitting around watching the Kids Holiday Baking Championship on the Food Network, you can see how dedicated the participants are committed to pulling off a last minute win. From the time the clock starts until the last minute the bakers are working to perfect their creation to present to the judges. You can see a similar sight here in the Brazos Valley on Sunday, December 11 at Century Square on the green at the Gingerbread Build- Off hosted by the American Institute of Architects’ Brazos Chapter, or AIA Brazos.
Gumdrops, kisses, and candy canes are only a few of the items guests can expect to see on gingerbread houses. From movie scenes to local businesses, the competition has seen a variety of modeled structures, AIA Brazos Chapter President Marcus Gibbon says.
With only five hours, eight to 12 teams of Brazos Valley architects, contractors and engineering firms will take on the challenge to build a gingerbread house from the ground up. From the detailed planning to on-site execution, this competition is no easy task or win, but one that will take careful placement and unexpected problem solving for any bumps in the road that may come up during the building phase.
“The first year a team really got very detailed, they did a scene of Northgate and had these edible markers that were very thin tipped for making Dry Beans logo,” Marcus says. “Every year, the builders push themselves a little bit more. There were so many tools for drilling through the gingerbread and creating holes to put dowels through. People get creative with heating up or melting candies to make stained glass and all of it's being done on site rather than coming with things already built.”
Each team is provided with four 23”x17” sheets of gingerbread as well as 5 lbs of structural icing with extra available for purchase, he says. All other festive decor and desired building materials must be provided by each team allowing for a wide variety of completed houses.
“The very first year Blue Baker did a couple of iterations where they made some dough, they brought it and we tested it, they made some more, they brought it, then we tested it,” Marcus says. Over the last couple years, AIA Brazos and Blue Baker were able to perfect the texture and durability of the gingerbread to last throughout the competition.
The creations are judged by a local team typically composed of a celebrity judge, baker, and a Texas A&M architecture professor. Teams are battling for multiple titles including best iconic architecture, best Aggie-centric, best holiday themed, and tallest standing structure.
“It's really fun because when you start to see these architects, engineers, and contractors really push themselves, they try and tackle multiple categories so that if they don't win one, they try and win another,” Marcus says.
Additionally, the community gets a say in their favorite creation with the live people’s choice vote conducted online. “There will be a capability of voting online through Facebook for the people's favorite and voted on by how many likes each structure gets,” he says. “If your favorite doesn't win a certain category, then that's a way you can get involved and push for your favorite structure to win.”
The community is invited to come out to watch the competition from 10 a.m. until winners are announced at 4 p.m. Children will also be able to participate in the Kid’s Build featuring a variety of goodies to create their own decorative cookie from Blue Baker, which they will get to take home.
Proceeds from the event benefit a variety of organizations including the Architecture in Schools program, which introduces local elementary students to the profession and allows students to take on the role of the architect through an eight-week course through their schools. Additionally, funds are also donated to the Texas A&M AIAS chapter to help alleviate the cost of their leadership conference and finally the rest of the funds are used for scholarships benefitting AIA Brazos’ Emerging Professionals members to attend a state conference.
For more information on the Gingerbread Build-Off and to learn more about AIA Brazos, visit aiabrazos.org.
