Putting the can in
can-do sculptures to fight hunger 11.09.07 The Atlanta Journal-Constituion
By David Graves
This is can-do spirit if there ever was one.
Over at Underground Atlanta Thursday, 20 teams of architects, engineers and designers were hard at work finalizing layouts and constructing massive monuments made up mostly of canned goods.
They'll all be competing for a chance to head to the national competition at the American Institute of Architects national convention in Boston in May. Up to 52,000 canned goods and boxes were being used to build 20 sculptures — from Aqua Teen Hunger Force to a huge manually powered can opener to R2-D2.
Also taking shape Thursday was Randall-Paulson Architects' Yellow Brick Road-themed "You're Not in CANsas Anymore." HKS, Inc. architects were busy building their elaborate White House for "Presidential CANdidates," which will use 8,516 packages of tuna, pinto beans, black-eyed peas and spaghetti when complete.
Architectural majors from Southern Polytechnic State University, the only student organization in this year's contest, continued the patriotic theme with "Proud to be an AmeriCAN." Its twin towers will stand 9 feet and calls for 536 can goods.
"It's good to give back to the community," says Jake Begnaud as he and two teammates stretch to add layers to their monument. "Since it's time for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we wanted to do something American."
Each team was given $500 seed money for the competition and allowed to raise more money. Judging takes place Friday.
And when the exhibit is done, all food will be donated to the Atlanta Community Food Bank just in time for the holidays.
But right now, the focus is making all these thousands of cans take shape.
