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What can a gingerbread house teach us about architecture? A history museum in Minnesota is using cookies and icing to teach students about structural design and the permitting process - lessons that they hope will last much longer than the gingerbread. Kirsti Marohn of Minnesota Public Radio has this story.
KIRSTI MAROHN, BYLINE: About two dozen people crowd around tables in an art studio in the small central Minnesota town of Sauk Centre. Each has a box that contains the essential elements of a building - four walls, a roof, a tube of mortar that looks suspiciously like frosting.
ANN MARIE JOHNSON: Well, welcome, everyone. Thank you for coming to the class today - Gingerbread Architecture: The Sweet Elements of Design.
MAROHN: Ann Marie Johnson handles community engagement for the Stearns History Museum, which sponsors the class.
JOHNSON: Hopefully, you'll learn something about buildings and architecture and how to put your structures together and maintain them and have a lot of fun.
MAROHN: Architect Evan Larson is leading the class. He tells the builders to sketch a blueprint of their gingerbread house and apply for a building permit.
EVAN LARSON: So let's look again at this three-dimensional drawing here. I would approve that. That looks really good.
MAROHN: Then, the builders get to work.
JOHNSON: OK, it's official. Now you get to make your structure.
MAROHN: The Stearns History Museum hosts these workshops as part of its mission to preserve and share the county's history. Johnson hopes people will take what they learn with gingerbread and apply it to their own homes and spaces.
JOHNSON: The idea is if you're having fun, maybe you'll keep those ideas in your head. It's a great way to learn. And if people are also able to know a little bit more about how buildings are put together, they might be able to better care for them and keep them in use for as long as they can.
MAROHN: Along the way, the class learns some architectural terms and talks about serious topics, like structural design, in a fun way. Stacie Michels props up her collapsing roof with a graham cracker, sort of like a flying buttress on a Gothic cathedral.
STACIE MICHELS: Which I did not know was a thing until, like, two minutes ago (laughter).
MAROHN: Michaels is president of the Chamber of Commerce in Sauk Centre, known for being the birthplace of author Sinclair Lewis. Its original Main Street - the name of Lewis' famous novel - is lined with historic brick structures. And the 510 Art Lab, where the gingerbread crew is working, is just around the corner.
MICHELS: So many people want to go and tear down and build new, and I think it's important that we preserve the history of our communities. And so this just highlights another opportunity for us to bring to light what's going on and making use of old buildings. This building - it was a supper club and a bar and so many different uses. And now to see it transformed into this gallery space and art venue is so cool.
MAROHN: And that's why the class, says the museum's executive director, Amy Degerstrom, is a perfect place to get people thinking about how places fit into history.
AMY DEGERSTROM: As a country, the United States tends to be a bit throwaway in terms of our structures and buildings in comparison to, say, Europe, right? And so I love the idea that this could maybe spark an interest in someone who hasn't thought about buildings and why we need to keep them.
MAROHN: After an hour of construction, a few gingerbread roofs have caved in, but most are still standing. Larson says he's happy with the group's progress.
LARSON: A few people were assembling them a little bit quick. You know, we do want our materials to set up a little bit before we move on to the next step, so that gets a little concerning on a few of them. They had a few structural collapses. But I think that's the learning process. So...
MAROHN: At the end of the class, the builders pack up their gingerbread houses to take home, along with a little more knowledge about how to build well and create something that lasts.
For NPR News, I'm Kirsti Marohn in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
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