13th Annual CANstruction Event To Be Held At Livingston Mall

October 5, 2011

The New Jersey Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ Newark and Suburban section, has announced that CANstruction, its annual design exhibition and contest to benefit community food programs, will be held this year at the Livingston Mall, in Livingston, N.J.

The New Jersey exhibition is part of a national AIA-sponsored CANstruction event in which 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 structures take 8 to 12 weeks and thousands of cans to create.

The structures will be built during an eight-hour “Build Day” on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2011, and will be on display throughout the mall.

The event gives architects the opportunity to display their talents while also serving as a benefit for the hungry.  Following the exhibitions, the immense 10’ x 10’ x 8’ high structures are dismantled and all of the canned food is donated to charity.  The theme of this year’s competition is “World Famous.”

The design competition is held under the auspices of the Society for Design Administration (SDA), an affiliate of the national AIA organization.  This will be the 13^th year for the design competition in New Jersey, which in recent years has been held at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

In New Jersey, the food is donated to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey (CFBNJ) for distribution to community food programs.

Last year, CANstruction raised over 45,000 pounds of food and over $1,700 in cash donations.  CANstruction is the CFBNJ’s largest and most successful event, said Tim Vogel, director of food sourcing for the food bank.

CFBNJ distributes more than 37 million pounds of food and groceries a year, ultimately serving 1,656 non-profit programs including 436 programs served by its partner distribution organizations. Through their combined efforts, they assist more than 900,000 people in 18 New Jersey counties.

Last year, the juror’s favorite design, entitled “Newark City Subway 1954-2001” took the form of an iconic subway car — both inside and out.  Other winning teams included a giant Facebook logo and mouse pad entitled “Upload Education, Download Hunger” and a bouncing basketball scene known as “Bounding Cans to Hungry Hands.”

Since the inception of CANstruction over 10 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 1992-1993, CANstruction now has more than 130 individual competitions scheduled to take place during the 2010/2011 cycle.

For more information on the event, contact Christy DiBartolo at 973-290-8544.

By admin | Posted in AIA-NJ News, Members & the Community, Uncategorized | Tagged: AIA-NS, CANstruction, CFBNJ, Food Bank, sda, Society for Design Administration | Comments (1)