Charity work meets design innovation through some friendly competition at the Southcentre Mall with the return of the Canstruction’s yearly structure building competition.
Seven teams constructed sculptures that included homages to classic arcade and board games as part of Canstruction’s retro-game theme and the celebration of the mall’s 50th anniversary.
“People are wowed by these structures. They’re so spectacular,” said Betty Jo Kaiser, Calgary Food Bank communications and event manager.
“It’s not like anything you’d see anywhere else. It’s engineering masterpieces.”
The unique structures are built out of non-perishable canned products purchased directly by the teams. They will be displayed in the mall’s Centre Court until April 21, after which they will be donated to the Calgary Food Bank. Spectators are encouraged to donate cans or give monetary donations during their visits.
“People are going through a really hard time, so anything we can do to help anyone in need really makes me feel good,” said Dane Moynihan, a member of Bantrel’s process engineering group. Bantrel made a Pac-Man replica out of canned turkey, chicken, and peas.
The labour behind these constructions goes back weeks with sketches and images on computer screens that became realities this afternoon.
“It’s actually a couple month long commitment of planning out what we’re going to build, making models of it, doing practice build and then this is the big day where it all comes together,” said Branislav Popic, structural engineer for the Fluor Canada team working on a 10-foot Battleship game sculpture.
The effort allowed the teams to flex their engineering skills and learn from each other.
“It just lets people be really creative with what their sculptures are supposed to be and gets people thinking by adding a bit of an engineering challenge to things,” said Moynihan.
“It’s a really good experience for me and my coworkers.”
Sight of the main mission not lost
The Calgary Food Bank and others involved hope the showcasing of structures in a public space raises awareness and gets others to donate time or money as demand for the food bank’s services continues.
“This creative and unique initiative not only helps to fill our Emergency Food Hampers, but it also builds community,” said Melissa From, President and CEO of the Calgary Food Bank in a media advisory.
“We simply cannot support those who need food without the people in our city coming together.”
The Calgary Food Bank said they continue to see unprecedented demand for support. They are distributing up to 700 emergency hampers each day.
Nine teams in total used more than 44,000 cans of food in the Canstruction projects.
Spectators can vote for their favourite structure in the People’s Choice Awards beginning April 9th. The structures will also be judged by a panel of esteemed Calgarians on April 20th. Awards will be handed out based on best meal, best use of labels, and structural integrity.
