Canstruction Grand Rapids

Canstruction® is the most unique food charity in the world!

A foundation of the Society for Design Administration (SDA), Canstruction® is a trademarked design/build competition currently held in cities throughout North America and countries around the world including Australia. Teams of architects, engineers, and students mentored by these professionals, compete to design and build giant structures made entirely out of canned foods. It takes 8-12 weeks and thousands of cans of food to create a structure.

The results are displayed to the public as magnificent sculpture exhibits in each city where a competition is held. The public is invited to donate canned food at the time of the exhibition. At the close of the exhibitions all of the canned food used in the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution to emergency feeding programs that include pantries, soup kitchens, elderly and day care centers.

Since its inception, ten 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 1992/93, Canstruction® now has over one hundred and forty individual competitions scheduled to take place during the 2009-2010 cycle.

Design and construction industry professional associations that have partnered with the SDA in organizing local competitions include the American Institute of Architects, the Society for Marketing Professional Services and the International Interior Design Association.