CANSTRUCTING FOR THE HUNGRY
LOCAL BUILDING PROFESSIONALS CAN DO
THE CRAZIEST THINGS WITH CANS

HOK Sports team's design (above) won an honorable mention last year, while CDFM2's rendition of a TV dinner won the Juror's Favorite award.

OK, here's the deal. Get five people together from one design, architectural or construction firm--or maybe join forces. Find sponsors. Buy hundreds or thousands of cans of food. Any size. Any content. Run down to Crown Center on Oct. 17--be sure to bring Velcro, clear tape, rubber bands or nylon string.

Build whatever you want all day long as long as it's no bigger than 10 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet high. Stand back. Admire. Go home, exhausted. Wait for the five judges' verdict the next day. Sweat out the decision. See if you won Best Meal, Best Use of Labels, Structural Ingenuity, Jurors' Favorite, People's Choice (not eligible for the national competition) or honorable mention. If not, it's still OK because the entire event supports Harvesters. Then call your friends and invite them to come see your genius at work, Oct. 19, with their own can in hand.

This is the time frame and events for the second year of Canstruction, where 11 teams of professional architects, engineers and builders will devote their time, creativity, energy, design and structural expertise for a community project designed to help alleviate hunger. It's part of a national competition by the Society of Design Administration and The American Institute of Architects.

Last year, 441 structures were built nationwide, providing well over three million meals. Locally, besides the many sponsors and donors that each team solicits, the event is sponsored by Wagner & Knoll Inc. and Milano Italian Restaurant.

"What happens is that people from the design community take the whimsy and creativity that really is a part of design and apply it to a great cause," says Peter Sloan of CDFM2, whose team won "Jurors' Favorite" last year (and supplied 2,200 pounds of food to the needy). Besides his firm, others participating this year are HNTB, BNIM, Ellerbe Becket, HOK Sport + Venue + Event, Hoefer Wysocki Architects, Walton Construction Co., Gould Evans Goodman Associates, Bibb and Associates, Shafer Kline & Warren, Shaw Hofstra + Associates, and Helix Architecture + Design. "This helps us connect with the community, have fun and gives us a mini-competition," Sloan points out. He notes the competition includes "brainstorming, weeks of planning, 3-D creations, final votes, and design elements like color, structural integrity, balance – all using the simple can."

OK. Here's the rest of the deal: Final event for the professional builders is Nov. 18. That's when they run back to Crown Center, de-CANstruct and reload cans on pallets. They'll send all the food to Harvesters--and feel good because if this year is like last, they will have raised more than 24,000 meals for Kansas City's hungry.

If you'd like to see what some the national prize-winners looked like, go to www.canstruction.org. You'll be amazed. If you'd like to look at our local experts' handiwork, visit the atrium of Crown Center from Oct. 19 to Nov. 17-- and be sure to bring a can to donate to the cause. --caption-- HOK Sport team's fountain design (above) won an honorable mention last year, while CDFM2's rendition of a TV dinner won the Juror's Favorite award.

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