Juror’s Favorite: “Found Dory, Now Let’s Find A Solution To Hunger” by H2M architects + engineers.

Jericho, NY It was nearly 3 a.m. when they finished but, in the end, the hard work paid off in so many ways. The team from H2M architects + engineers captured the coveted Juror’s Favorite award for their “Found Dory, Now Let’s Find a Solution to Hunger” entry in the 10^th Annual Canstruction Long Island Design/Build Competition that helps fight hunger on Long Island. The colorful aquatic display contained 6,340 cans and fed 1,587 people. 

A total of 13 teams spent between two and 12 months designing gigantic structures using thousands of cans of food. The teams were responsible for developing their structure’s concept, determining what cans were needed to bring the concept to life, raising the funds required to purchase the cans or securing canned food donations from individuals, stores or manufacturers, and test-building the “canstructures” to ensure they were structurally sound. Once built, structures remained on exhibit to the public at RXR Plaza in Uniondale for two weeks. Visitors were asked to bring canned food donations to use as votes for the People’s Choice awards.

Teams consisted of members of the architectural, engineering, design and construction industries, as well as college students studying those fields, middle/high school students and community groups. H2M is the only team that has participated in each of the 10 annual events, winning more than 15 awards as a result of their creativity, talent and daring.

Structural Ingenuity: “Pika-can-chu, Gotta Catch ‘em All” by John W. Baumgarten Architect, PC.

Competing for just their second time, the team from John W. Baumgarten Architect, PC won the Structural Ingenuity award for their 10-ft. tall “Pika-can-chu, Gotta Catch ‘em All” structure, a re-creation of the popular Pokémon character, which contained 3,630 cans and provided 2,173 meals for hungry Long Islanders.

Most Cans and Best Meal honors went to the team from LKB Consulting Engineers with their campsite scene entitled “Everyone Deserves S’more Food.” 3,504 individuals received “s’more” meals from the 7,170 cans contained in the structure, which also contained the greatest assortment of healthy foods.

“It’s the Great PumpCAN, Charlie Brown!,” created by the team of Lines & Designs, 3D LLC and the Long Island reSound Handbell Ensemble, celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the animated special based on the Peanuts comic strip. The two-sided structure depicted Snoopy’s silhouette rising from the moonlit pumpkin patch, Linus, Sally and trick-or-treaters on one side, and Lucy enticing Charlie Brown to try to kick a football on the other side. The 6,582-can structure took home Best Use of Labels honors, and fed 3,335 individuals.

All cans contained in the structures, along with those donated by the public, were donated to four local food banks; The Interfaith Nutrition Network (INN), Island Harvest Food Bank, Long Island Cares, Inc. / The Harry Chapin Food Bank, and The NEST at Nassau Community College. The food banks also shared in a $7,000 donation from Canstruction Long Island, Inc. This year’s event broke past records with a total food donation of 54,730 cans, which provided approximately 30,000 meals. An estimated 316,000 Long Islanders, over 100,000 of them children, face hunger every day.