Canstruction Toronto invites teams of engineers, architects, and designers to take part in the 18th annual Canstruction at the Toronto Dominion Centre in Toronto on May 15, 2017.
Canstruction is an international annual design and build competition to raise awareness about the growing hunger gap. Teams of architects, engineers, designers and students design and build ‘Canstructures’, structures made entirely from canned foods within a 10’x10’x8’ space.
Teams compete for the titles: Jurors Favourite, Best Use of Labels, Best Meal and Structural Ingenuity. After the competition and exhibition, the structures are deconstructed and all of the cans are donated to Daily Bread Food Bank, the largest provider of food relief in the GTA. A jury will judge the completed ‘canstructures’ anonymously on May 16, 2017 and the winners will be announced at an evening reception held at the Design Exchange.
“Canstruction is a unique type of food drive and a way for the design community to collaborate in a creative way and give back to the community we build in,” says Helen Kabriel, co-‐chair of Canstruction Toronto. “Not only do they give back through food donations, but their structures attract an audience and provoke discussions on hunger and the challenges facing our city.”
Since the event started in Toronto in 1999, Canstruction Toronto has donated more than 920,000 pounds of food to Daily Bread Food Bank. Since 1992, Canstruction has contributed more than 30 million pounds of food to programs around the world. Canstruction events are held annually in over 150 cities around the world including North America, Australia, South America, Europe and Asia.
“The impact of Canstruction is enormous. It provides thousands of pounds of high quality and nutritious food at a time of year when donations typically fall off,” says Gail Nyberg, executive director of Daily Bread Food Bank. “Canstruction is incredibly important, especially at this time of year, when people may not be thinking about the food bank as much. It helps us to keep our hampers full and nutritious throughout the warm months. The real winners of Canstruction are the 80,000 people who will use our food banks each and every month.”
The deadline for registration is January 20, 2017. Design submissions must be received no later than February 17, 2017. The public is invited to an information night about Canstruction on Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 6:00pm at the Design Exchange (234 Bay St).