Canstruction NYC 2010 at the World Financial Center
In what has become a great pre-Thanksgiving tradition in our family, we roamed the soaring, sun-drenched Winter Palace at the World Financial Center last Thursday afternoon to take in Canstruction 2010, that annual celebration of cool design, tricky engineering, and donating a whole lot of time, talent and food to New Yorkers who need it most. Now in its 18th year here in New York City (and third in a row at the Winter Palace), Canstruction is on display until next Monday, November 22, when all those amazing creations will be dismantled and the construction materials–some 100,000 (!) cans of food–will be given directly to City Harvest, and so to scores of hungry New Yorkers, men, women and children, via soup kitchens, food banks, shelters and senior homes citywide.
Canstruction NYC 2010 features 25 self-supporting sculptures this year, created and constructed by architecture, engineering, construction and/or design firms, all built entirely from cans, with the occasional "other" packaged food used for detail work. As always, we enjoyed just about everything (including all the terrible can-related puns), but here's a look at a few of our favorite Canstruction ideas from the CANgsta's Paradise up top (by Arup, made with 3,243 cans), to the Can'truck'tion above (by RAND Engineering and Architecture; 4,054 cans), to all of these, below…
Mr. Potato Head (by STV Incorporated; 4,104 cans) seems to sneak into the exhibition about every other year.
Our best Canstruction 2010 engineering award goes to Downside-Up: One CAN Make a Difference by HLW International using 3,350 cans.
Ted Moudis Associates' Orange Ribbon was very cool… until it came crashing down right in front us, ravioli rolling everywhere.
The Luigi (and, on the other side, Mario) Canstruction idea was, no surprise, a big crowd pleaser, by Severud Associates from 3,600 cans.
Gilsanz Murray Steficek, LLP, had a terrific entry this year, with 5,180 cans turned into a giant coffee (oil?) spill. Love the way they went deep into the mug.
Canstruction NYC Details
Canstruction 2010 NYC will be showing from now until Monday, November 22, at the World Financial Center – Winter Palace. The exhibition is open every day from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., (until 5:00 p.m. on the 22nd), and though City Harvest no longer charges an admission price of a can of food, they do accept donations on site, at the main desk located on the southern end of the space. The World Financial Center – Winter Palace is located in Battery Park City. For more information and directions, go to the Canstruction 2010 NYC website
Posted in NYC Events | Tagged Arup • Can"truck"tion • CANgsta's Paradise • canstruction • canstruction NYC 2010 • Downside-Up: One CAN Make a Difference • Gilsanz Murray Steficek LLP • HLW International • Orange Ribbon • RAND Engineering and Architecture • Severud Associates • STV Incorporated • Ted Moudis Associates • World Financial Center
