CANstruction involves teams of architects, engineers and students working together to design and build giant structures made entirely from cans of food. These builds are displayed to the public as magnificent sculptural exhibits.

CANstruction 2021 will be held at Raleigh Union Station on Friday, August 6. The build will occur between 8 am – 5 pm with a VIP reception for the teams, judges, sponsors, AIA Triangle Board of Directors and other invited guests from 5-6 pm. The event will open to the public at 6 pm. Awards will be announced at 6:30 pm. There is no charge for the public portion of the event, which will be part of Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s “First Friday”.

The theme for this year’s CANstruction is “Transportation”: highlighting the many ways that people move from place to place. All of the sculptures will be built with this theme in mind. On build-day, August 6, entries will be judged by a panel of local celebrities and awards will be given in several categories including innovation and structural ingenuity.

This year marks the 5th year that AIA Triangle has hosted this national charitable event. We are excited to announce that this year, all builds will be under one roof at Raleigh Union Station in downtown Raleigh and be available for viewing and open to the public until August 20.

At the close of the two-week exhibition, the sculptures will be disassembled, and the canned food will be donated to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina for distribution to emergency programs that include food pantries, soup kitchens, older adult facilities and day care centers.

In years past, the event has provided over 30,000 meals to families in our community experiencing food insecurity. This year, we anticipate providing 40,000 meals. To date, we have provided 137,687 cans of food to the Food Bank.

In addition to supporting the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, this event raises awareness of architecture, design and engineering through this creative and challenging competition. Hundreds of local professionals and families attend the event each year and advertising has already begun!