A hot dog and soda glass sculpture made from cans, featured in last year’s CANstruction event.


The Merchandise Mart in Chicago is hosting the 4th annual CANstruction contest, through June 2. The contest invites area architects and engineers to build giant sculptures out of cans, which are then donated to the Greater Chicago Food Depository at the close of the exhibit.

Last year’s CANstruction event raised approximately 70,000 of cans of food from 20 structures. This year’s event is expected to exceed that amount, according to event organizers.

Teams competing include: Alfred Benesch & Company, BLDD/Gilbane Construction, Bovis Lend Lease/Rise Group, BSA Lifestructures, Eckenhoff Saunders/TGRWA/V3 Companies, ESD, Gensler, HDR, Klein and Hoffman, Muller+Muller, Ltd./V3 Companies/George Sollitt Construction Company, Nagle Hartray, RJN Group, Ruck Pate Architecture, SmithGroup, and WJE.

For more information, visitwww.aiachicago.org/canstruction.