The CANstruction competition was established in 1992 by the New York chapter of SDA (Society for Design Administration). The annual event was “conceived to unite the design, engineering, and construction industry in a delightful way,” and as a fun way to raise awareness and collect canned food donations for local relief organizations, according to SDANYC’s website.
CANstruction’s parameters challenge teams comprising architects, engineers, and contractors to build (approximately) 8’ x 8’ sculptures made entirely out of unopened cans of food—although I always spot some exceptions to this rule, including this year, which featured a Flying Ace Snoopy sporting a scarf made from bags of peanuts and a Lady Liberty head, whose torch spikes were made from Aloha brand protein bars.
Most Cans: Kiss Hunger Goodbye, by Design Park/West Collection
The Flying Ace CANS Hunger, by TYLin and Marvel
Best Original Design: A Dolphin-itive End to Hunger, by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH),
Honorable Mention: Sea to Shining Sea, by Thornton Tomasetti
The creations are displayed at Brookfield Place for just over a week in late October through early November before being disassembled and donated to New York City’s first (and largest) food rescue organization, City Harvest. Brookfield Place is one of several largely soulless, uninspired, and overpriced malls that popped up in post-9/11 Lower Manhattan—but it does provide a bland, (mostly) well-lit backdrop perfect for seasonal events (and, perhaps most importantly, free public bathrooms) .
Honorable Mention: Helping Hands, by LERA Consulting Structural Engineers
In the Knick of Time, by NV5
A Lion’s Share, by Beyer Blinder Belle
This was my sixth year seeing (and not-so-silently judging) the creations, which always include plenty of puns, New York City icons, and so, so much tinned seafood. The sculptures are judged and awarded ribbons; this year’s jurors included architects, social media influencers, and the co-founder and CEO of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream. Categories included “Most Cans,” won by the Hershey-Kiss-shaped Kiss Hunger Goodbye; “Best Meal,” won by Canhattanhenge, one of two (the lesser, in my opinion) versions of the sunset phenomenon Manhattanhenge; and “Best Use of Labels,” won by the colorful millennial throwback, MaCANtosh.
Best Meal: Canhattanhenge, by Jaros, Baum & Bolles (JB&B)/VIATechnik
Best Use of Labels: Gensler, MaCANtosh
I didn’t photograph every sculpture, but sometimes it’s easier to see the vision in a snapshot; like pixel art or an Impressionist painting, sometimes it’s hard to see the forest (sculpture) for the trees (cans) if you’re too close. Even then, some read better than others; there were several Odyssey-themed entries this year that confounded me (explanatory signs accompany each sculpture) and even nailing a recognizable silhouette (like Little Island or a Nintendo Switch controller) doesn’t guarantee that you’ll end up with a masterpiece. Other details, like the words “New York” in the base of a skyscraper, revealed themselves to me only after I had begun to edit my photos.
Building a Winning City, by Sweet Group
Structural Ingenuity: An Odyssey Against Hunger: An Epic Journey With A Purpose, DeSimone Consulting Engineering
This year, 22 teams competed—and while the charitable aspect means that even the worst sculptures end up doing some good, each new group of designs always includes some head-scratchers and some plain duds. I have never attempted to build anything out of cans, so take my arm chair critiques with a grain of salt (and a thousand cans of sardines), but my favorites this year were the Lady Liberty head (Sea to Shining Sea), FranCANstein, and the losing version of CANhattanhenge, which featured yellow taxis made from can-adjacent Coleman’s mustard tins.
You can see them all and vote for your favorite here.
FranCANstein: Scare Away Hunger, by Gannett Fleming (GFT)
The better (in my opinion) and losing version of CANhattanhengeby Langan Engineering.
CANstruction is free to view, but visitors are encouraged to bring a food donation to add to the pile: Every year, CANstruction is responsible for “the largest annual single donation of canned food to City Harvest,” according to SDANYC’s website.
