Engineers, architects and students from around the Capital District got together in a competition to construct displays out of canned goods to raise food and money for local food pantries.
• What: Capital Region Canstruction
• When: Through Thursday, April 24
• Where: New York State Museum
• How much: free
• Info:474-1201, www.nysm.nysed.gov
On Wednesday, April 9, nine different teams made up of local architecture, engineering and construction firms, as well as design students from RPI and Price Chopper employees, used more than 43,000 cans in the fourth annual Canstruction event at the New York State Museum. The display will remain up until April 24.
CSArch, Creighton Manning, EYP, MJ Engineering, Mosaic, Price Chopper, RPI, SMRT and Spring Line Design volunteers built at “Storytown”-themed displays on the museum’s fourth floor. Sculpture designs include characters from “James and the Giant Peach,” “Toy Story,” “Green Eggs and Ham,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “The Little Engine That Could,” “Horton Hears a Who,” “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Rainbow Fish,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Humpty Dumpty.” All cans used in the displays were purchased from Price Chopper, the major event sponsor, and will be donated to The Food Pantries for the Capital District at the end of Canstruction.
The firms that are up against one another often compete for jobs outside of the competition, so this event gives them an opportunity to get together for some friendly competition.
“This is an event of the architecture and engineering industry, so it’s really special because the firms that are normally competing against each other come together to build. This day is their favorite because it feels so special, like that guy we might have been competing against in an interview last week and now we’re working on this philanthropy project together,” said Sara Stein President of Capital Region Canstruction and Architect at EYP Architecture and Engineering.
Canstruction is an international program that takes place in 250 other cities around the world. The Albany competition ranks in the top 10 for raising the most cans.
“Internationally, they rank the top 25 cities every year for the biggest impact they make. That is a combination of number of cans provided and any cash raised through the event. In our first three years, we were number 25, 13 and 10 respectively. So it’s like Toronto, New York, London, Boston, Troy, N.Y.,” said Stein.
“To see Troy, N.Y., as number 10 next to London and New York City is amazing, and now all of us are pleading with the community to bring as many cans as they can so we can break into that top 10. If Troy passes Boston or New York City, it would be such a peak for the Capital Region.”
The American Institute of Architects is based in Troy so that is why the competition is listed as Troy even though the competition takes place in Albany.
The teams come up with a design and raise money to pay for the cans. Price Chopper then brings the cans to the museum for the teams and also sells the cans at a discount and assigns a store manager to help each team pick out their cans.
It is a big help for them because in many of the other cities, Stein said, the teams have to transport the cans. When many of the displays use more than 4,000 cans, moving them all is a serious project.
While Price Chopper is the main sponsor, UPS, Kohl’s and local food pantries supply 200 volunteers that help with cleaning up, moving cans and setting up dinner for the designers.
The teams spend months making their designs, deciding which cans to use and picking out the color schemes, fundraising and making adjustments to the designs.
“We had to change our entire scheme in December after meeting with one of the architects at school that helps us with logistics, and we’ve been tweaking since then. We were officially done with design but had to buy the cans,” said Dillon Webster, an architecture student at RPI.
Visitors are encouraged to bring canned goods to the museum and participate in the Canstruction competition. Visitors can use their canned goods as ballots to help determine the winner of the Community Choice award. Other awards, including “Best Use of Labels” and “Structural Ingenuity”, were chosen by a panel of local judges.
More information can be found at www.facebook.com/CapitalRegionCanstruction.