In Photos: Canstruction winners inspired by space travel, children's story, video game and beer

 

Canstruction 2018 judges (left to right): John Morris, Moira Gettens, Mick Clay, City of Cincinnati Councilwoman Amy Murray, Leslie Fultz, Greg Lewis, Sherry Hang, and Patrice WatsonEach year participating Canstruction cities from Santa Fe and Hong Kong to Toronto and Cincinnati challenge local design, architecture, construction and engineering firms to build giant sculptures made entirely of canned goods and non-perishable foods.

This year, 15 teams in Cincinnati's Citywide competition used more than 63,000 canned goods and non-perishable food items to construct gravity defying large-scale art exhibits installed throughout downtown through Sunday, April 29. Teams had just five hours to complete sculptures, which could not exceed 10 feet wide, 10 feet long and 10 feet high.

 2018 Cincinnati Canstruction winners:

• Structural Ingenuity: “Blasting Hunger Into Space! 50 Years & Counting” by FRCH
• Best Use of Labels: “Cincy Wrecks Hunger” by Champlin
• Best Meal: “Cheers to Fighting Hunger” by HGC and M&A Architects
• Most Cans: “Cheers to 21 Years” by BHDP and Messer
• Best Original Design: “The Not So Hungry Caterpillar” by HDR
•  People's Choice Award: "Can UC us dig it!" By University of Cincinnati UC CANstruction team

Hunger Isn't HipAt the close of the exhibit, the canned goods are donated to the Freestore Foodbank for distribution. Photos of Cincinnati’s Canstruction winners are submitted to the international Canstruction panel and compared to the winners from other Canstruction competitions around the world. Winners of the international Canstruction competition are announced in February 2019. HDR, Inc. won ‘Best Meal’ for their “Hunger Isn’t Hip” structure in the Canstruction 2017 Citywide International Competition.

The collection is designed to call attention to the issue of hunger in the Cincinnati region. Since the local competition began in 1997, Cincinnati’s “architects of food” have donated nearly 817,000 pounds of food to the Freestore Foodbank, enough to provide nearly 681,000 meals to our hungry neighbors in the Tri-State area. Visit Canstruction's national site for more information. "Hunger isn't hip" featuring Cincinnati's Fiona graces their home page.