Fort Worth Chapters of the Society for Design Administration and The American Institute of Architects teamed up for the 19th annual CANstruction at North East Mall Oct. 16, to Oct. 22.
Canstruction is an art exhibition that allows participants to raise funds to purchase canned goods and design a themed structure. Each structure remains on display in the mall for a week. After scoring, the cans are donated to the Tarrant Area Food Bank. This year’s theme was “Winning the Fight Against Hunger” and VLK’s design, which was inspired by the Batman comic strip, was chosen as “Best Original Design” in the competition.
VLK’s structure was called “The Caped Crusader” and the design statement said: “BAM! POW! BIF! ZOK! Just as Batman is in his fight against the Joker and other Gotham City criminals, the display represents our commitment to winning the fight against hunger!”
To build this structure, VLK used 2,610 cans of beans, diced tomatoes, spinach, and chili. In addition, approximately 16 employees worked meticulously, ensuring that the structure was assembled perfectly before scoring commenced. On average, Canstruction has over 300 structures built, with about 2,000 cans per structure, meaning roughly 600,000 cans donated for meals to feed the hungry population across Tarrant County.
“Canstruction was a huge success,” said VLK Team Captain, Angela Mitchell. “We had a fun, unique Batman inspired design that included ideas contributed by many team members. Winning the award for “Best Original Design” means so much because we all worked hard on the form and images of the structure, fundraising to buy the cans, and selecting the best cans for the design. We are thrilled to continue to work with the Canstruction team that does so much to help the Tarrant Area Food Bank feed the hungry in our area.”