November 12, 2012 AdminHBA Design, Events

CANstruction® 2012

It starts with one can. To feed the hungry. To lift the spirit. To change the world.

HBA is proud to support the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia by participating in CANstruction® 2012. CANstruction® is a national community service project of the design and construction industry that collects food to be distributed to local soup kitchens, shelters, pantries, and elderly/day-care centers. The event provides a creative and artistic means of educating our community and also contributes millions of pounds of food to community food banks in need.

Around the world, teams are given just six hours to defy expectations, logic, and gravity as they build fantastic sculptures from thousands of cans of food. The super-sized masterpieces are judged in a variety of categories as these unconventional art exhibits are opened to the public. On Wednesday, November 7th, the HBA team was in downtown Norfolk’s Selden Arcade, constructing our CANstruction® sculpture.

Our project required the purchase of thousands of cans of food. This year’s design was inspired by the 2012 London Olympic Games. We decided to combine a British icon, the classic red phone box, with Great Britain’s flag. Despite the numerous last-minute design changes and miscalculations of can numbers, we were able to pull off a marvelous sculpture. It was a nail-biting, adrenalin-rushing experience building the 8 ft. tall structure with only one can width to support it. In total we used 2,280 cans including peas, corn, green beans, tomato sauce, beans, and ravioli.

With eleven teams creating outstanding sculptures, more than 40,000 pounds of food was collected. We were astonished to learn that all the food from this event will only stock the local food banks for three days, and that one in four people in Southeastern Virginia are in need in food. Please consider donating to the Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia this holiday season. The sculptures will remain on display until Tuesday, November 19th in downtown Norfolk’s Selden Arcade.

We would like to give special thanks to all of our sponsors this year, including:

  • Campostella Builders & Supply Company
  • Clancy & Theys Construction Company
  • Ellis Gibson Group
  • McPherson Design Group
  • NRW Engineering, P.C.
  • Pace Collaborative, P.C.
  • PG Harris Construction Company
  • Pilato & Counts Interior Design, Inc.
  • Thompson Consulting Engineers
  • Charlie Edmonson
  • WPL

   Dustin Schulze