Canstruction - Enter a Team

Enter a Team

Locate a Participating City in your area from our data base.

Team must be led by a professional in the design and construction industry: Architect, Engineer, Designer or Contractor.

Local Competitions may take several forms:

Design firms compete against one another
Design professionals mentor student teams (grade school, high school, college)
Design professionals mentor corporate, club or civic organization teams
A combination of the above

Local Competitions may have different food acquisition requirements

Team is totally responsible for acquisition and/or payment of food.

Contact food manufacturers for donations/discounts

Contact food distributors and grocery stores for donations/discounts

Fund raise from sub-consultants, vendors, clients, friends, families

Hold fundraising events

Competition organizers fund raise for food and/or discounts that are passed on to teams
Combination of the above

Team Size - Regardless of how many people work on the development of a structure, only 5 people at a time are allowed to actually build the structure. There can be one additional person that assists with un-boxing cans. Team members can be swapped throughout the building process.

The structure must be built within the time frame set by local organizers, but not to exceed one 12-16 hour day.

The competition has a set of very specific rules as to how the structures may be built. Pay strict attention to the rules. Get a copy of the rules and regulations from your local organizers.

Bring together a group of committed people from your office: designers, technical experts, Cadd/3-D specialists, and members of the administrative staff. In addition to designing the structure you may need to fundraise to underwrite the cost of the structure and to procure all the canned foods and adjunct building materials. Have some team members who are willing to contact consultants, contractors and vendors for donations; research food sources; order the food and adjunct materials; and keep the team on track.

Spend several sessions brainstorming. Everyone should come to the first meeting with at least one idea. Perhaps with a sketch or image. Throw ideas up on the board and see what sticks – find several concepts everyone can get behind. Suggest lunch time meetings that won’t take time away from project work.

Pick several ideas to advance. Considerations: Can it be built out of cans? How will it stand? Are there canned food products in the right size and label color that can articulate the design?

Viable ideas can then be assigned to specific team members to advance to the next stage of more detailed drawings or models. Going through this process will usually eliminate the “unbuildable” ideas. Set a deadline for picking the idea you will execute.

Shop for suitable canned foods at the grocery store. List the basic colors needed to articulate the entire design. For each color bring in cans of various sizes and shapes to see which cans work best together. Once the final “grocery list” is determined the can sizes (height and diameter if round; height, length, width if square/rectangular) are turned over to the person(s) that will render the design in Cadd or a 3-D software to determine how many cans of each type will be needed. At the same time team members can be contacting manufacturers, distributors and grocery stores to see who will either donate or give the lowest price possible on each item. Then place the orders. You may end up using multiple sources. Find out if they will deliver the canned goods or will you have to pick them up.

Have a practice build in your office/school to avoid any crisis in the field the date of the actual competition. During this process you will determine if what you planned on paper will work. If you can stack with or without cardboard/foamcore for leveling the layers, and/or what other allowable materials (tape, wire, rubber bands, etc.) will be needed to enable the structure to stand. Order those materials in plentiful quantities.

Create a list of supplies to take to the competition site. Include one or two ladders if building over 5 feet high. Make a check list of possible supply needs: metal yard sticks, box cutters, scissors, measuring tape, levels, clear tape, double stick tape, velcro, foam core, cardboard, rubber bands and nylon wire.

Bring your digital camera. Take time lapse photography of the process.

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