Canstruction
Ranked #29 in Nonprofits, #5,432 overall | Donates to Food for Everyone Foundation
Canstruction - Beating Hunger One Can at a Time!
I discovered this competition when we were looking for some new ideas for fun things to do at work. I love design, architecture, engineering and think it would be totally fun to try this. Best of luck to you with your own design and competition!
Photo Credit: Nicholas Babaian on flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0 license.
All About Canstruction
What's behind the madness?
From the Canstruction website:Canstruction is a design/build competition showcasing the talents of design and construction industry professionals and students they mentor. At events held around the world, teams are given just 12 hours to defy expectations, logic, and gravity as they build fantastic sculptures from thousands of cans of food.
Dedicated volunteers work tirelessly to bring their creations to life. The following day, the super-sized masterpieces are judged in a variety of categories as these unconventional art exhibits are opened to the public, the cost of admission - just one can of food.
A foundation of the Society for Design Administration (SDA), Canstruction is a design/build competition currently held in cities throughout North America. Teams of architects, engineers, and students mentored by these professionals, compete to design and build giant structures made entirely from full cans of food.
The results are displayed to the public as magnificent sculpture exhibits in each city where a competition is held. At the close of the exhibitions all of the canned food used in the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution to emergency feeding programs that include pantries, soup kitchens, elderly and day care centers.
Since its inception, ten million pounds of food has been donated to aid in the fight against hunger. Initiated by the Denver, Seattle and New York Chapters of the SDA in 1992/93, Canstruction now has over one hundred individual competitions scheduled to take place during the 2007-2008 cycle.
Past Canstruction Projects
Jaw-dropping sculptures made of cans and other food
How to Get Involved in Canstruction
Host a competition, enter a team or just go enjoy the show
Host a Competition
Since Canstruction is a project of the design industry, part of its mission is to get architects, engineers, designers and contractors involved in giving back to the community. So the first requirement for any competition is that these design professionals play a key role. Check out the link for more details on the requirements for hosting a competition.
Get involved with a local competition already in place
The link takes you to the list of participating cities. Click on your city if it's already on the list, and you'll get the contact information for the organizer as well as location and so forth.
Enter a Team
Your team must be led by a design industry professional. (Someone needs to understand how to make those cans stand up straight!) Teams can have as many people as want, but only five people at a time can be building. Click the link for more info and tips on running a team.
Best Canstruction Ever?
Choose your favorite Canstruction entry
Design, Build, Plan
Get inspiration for your build!
Competing in Canstruction
From those who've taken up the challenge
- Canned Wonders
- We find out how the awesome hotdog was built - including great detail that it took more than 6,300 cans!!
- The Van of PEAS(Peace)
- Lacy headed up her team's entry, which was a Volkswagen bus composed of over 5,500 cans of sweet peas, evaporated milk, fish, and ranch style beans, 3,000 packages of ramen noodles, 500 bottles of water, and 600 cups of applesauce.
- Society of Hispanic Engineers
- Watch the Mayan pyramid come to life in this photo essay of this entry.
Talking About Canstruction
Google blog search
- Canstruction: 'Titanic,' 'Hunger Games' inspire food drive contest
- King is chairwoman of the annual Canstruction effort sponsored by the Society for Design Administration, which has been promoting similar campaigns nationally since 1992. King also works at RJC Architects, and it's her team of 10 that carted in 1000 ...
- 'Can-Struction' Comes to Carrollwood May 19
- The team with the most creative ?can-struction? will receive a trophy, and the team that collects the largest number of cans will receive a pizza party. Teams are given 45 minutes to build their structure, which will be judged by a team from the ...
- Small Bites: NW Elixir sauces, Portland Dining Month, Canstruction and more
- By The Oregonian Is there really room on our shelves for another hot sauce? When it's this good, we'll make room. NW Elixirs Nos. 1 and 2 really impressed our resident hot heads with their sensational flavor and robust heat, and they're made here in ...
- It "Can" Be Done! Pierson Students Receive Honorable Mention In Competition
- These Abraham Pierson School students in Clinton received an Honorable Mention award in the recent CANstruction competition. courtesy With lots of creativity, imagination and effort, the lesson learned is it "can" be done for students at the Abraham ...
Cantastic Chatter
Speak your mind about Canstruction here!
Have you ever participated in a Canstruction competition? Have a great idea for a can sculpture? Just want to give me props for being "cantastic"?
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ChrisImamshah
Mar 16, 2012 @ 7:24 am | delete
- Never heard of this before. This is a fantastic idea. Loved the creations you showed in the pictures. Going to look into this locally too. Squidliked.
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ronaldpakasi
Feb 20, 2012 @ 8:57 am | delete
- Wow! I never thought being "canned" can be really fun! Awesome!
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Scanabella
Dec 21, 2011 @ 1:37 pm | delete
- Ahhhh this is Cantastic! Love it!
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baby-strollers
Dec 13, 2011 @ 9:08 pm | delete
- Can struction - neat concept!
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mercin Dec 9, 2011 @ 9:56 pm | delete
- Interesting work. I did not know these creation methods existed.
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Psst .. if you buy something from this lens
... you'll automatically be making a donation to Food for Everyone Foundation, working to stop the cycle of poverty before it starts for low-income workers struggling to afford emergency expenses.
Doesn't that feel good?
Thanks for stopping by!
by SusanVillasLewis
Idea hamster. Design lover. Makes things happen. Random crafter. Voracious reader. Liberty lover. Marginal shooter. Singer. Writer. Marketer.
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