H2M architects + engineers wins international charity competition

Melville, NY Northeast consulting and design firm H2M architects + engineers recently won the 2024 Canstruction International Competition in the category of Best Original Design.

Founded in 1992, Canstruction is an international charity competition in which teams of architects, engineers, and contractors build large structures entirely out of canned goods. The structures are put on public display and voted on, with winners of the citywide competitions moving on to the international competition. After the structures are taken down, the canned goods used to build them are sent to food banks in the community.

H2M’s design, inspired by the Shel Silverstein book The Giving Tree, comprised nearly 7,800 cans of food. At the 18th Annual Canstruction Long Island Awards, the sculpture received honors for Best Original Design and Most Cans. Canstruction participants across the globe collected and donated 1.175 million pounds of food and raised over $640,000 in cash donations, with over $20,000 and 49,000 cans from the Long Island region going to food banks such as Island Harvest, Interfaith Nutrition Network, Long Island Cares, and The NEST.

“Canstruction is not just a great opportunity to give back the community, it’s also a valuable way to build trust, teamwork, and leadership skills among our team members,” said H2M president and CEO Rich Humann, P.E. “We’re proud to bring to Canstruction the same spirit of innovation and collaboration that we do to all of our projects, and we thank Canstruction leadership and staff for helping mold our passion for design into yet another way to help those in need.”

To learn more about Canstruction and its vital mission of ending hunger in the U.S. and abroad, visit the organization’s website at www.canstruction.org.