When you think of canned food, you probably think of two things: Cooking up a quick side dish for dinner, or donating items to food drives. What probably doesn’t cross your mind is building creative structures out of the cans.
But for the American Institute of Architects / Northern Virginia Chapter (AIA NOVA), that’s exactly what it has planned on Friday, Oct. 4, at Dulles International Airport for the 16th annual Canstruction competition.
Benefiting Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC), local architects will head to the airport to build five structures out of cans. Each team has seven hours to achieve their goal of building the most creative and well-built design.
The structures will be on display at the airport through Saturday, Oct. 12. After the public viewing period, all structures will be deconstructed and the canned food will be donated to AFAC, which provides supplemental groceries to local families in need.
The public is invited to watch teams build their can-structions on Friday, Oct. 4, from 5 p.m. to midnight. On Saturday, Oct. 5, an expert panel will award teams in the following categories: Best Original Design, Structural Ingenuity, Best Use of Labels, Best Meal, Most Cans and People’s Choice. Winning entries will then compete in the International Canstruction competition.
All events will be held on the airport’s Transportation Level.
For more information, visit aianova.org/canstruction.
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