What is CANstruction?
Our annual design competition challenges teams of architects, engineers, and contractors to build sculptures made entirely out of canned food. The sculptures are placed on display at the start of the holiday giving season, at Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan. All canned food is later donated to City Harvest to help provide families with a holiday meal.
You may also donate to CANstruction below. Your donation supports CANstruction’s programs and exhibitions which raise millions of pounds of food each year for local hunger relief organizations.
CANstruction New York’s History
Established in 1992 by the late Cheri Melillo and SDA New York, CANstruction, Inc. emerged from Cheri’s inspiration drawn from trial competitions in Denver, CO, and Seattle, WA. Cheri, fostering her vision, founded a CANstruction chapter in New York. Originally conceived to unite the design, engineering, and construction industry in a delightful way, it aimed to address hunger by providing canned food to relief organizations. Decades later, CANstruction stands as a testament to Cheri’s enduring vision and the collective commitment to combat hunger through innovative collaboration.
Now in its 32nd year of fighting food insecurity, the CANstruction NY competition and exhibition brings together teams of talented architects, engineers, and contractors for one important challenge: to get creative and build 8-foot high x 8-foot wide x 8-foot tall sculptures made entirely out of unopened cans of food. The large-scale sculptures are built and displayed at Brookfield Place (BFPL) in Lower Manhattan before being deconstructed and donated to City Harvest, New York City’s first and largest food rescue organization. Each year, the event results in the largest annual single donation of canned food to City Harvest, and this year’s donations will help reach the organization’s goal of rescuing and delivering more than 77 million pounds of food to soup kitchens and food pantries across New York City.
In 2023, CANstruction was highlighted on the Anti-Architect podcast…
Thursday, October 26, 2023
In this special episode highlighting the 31st Annual CANstruction New York Design and Build Competition, Christian sits down with four leaders behind the incredible cause, including Jennifer Greene, Director of Marketing at Ronnette Riley Architect, Elysa Marden, Senior Vice President of Arts and Events for Brookfield Properties, Jenna Harris, City Harvest’s Associate Director as well as Jessica Sheridan, Principal at Mancini Duffy.
Contact Us
All inquiries can be redirected to the Canstruction NY team here.
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