Dustin Toney-The Corsair
The Institute of Architects-Northwest Florida and Society of Design Administration’s 3rd Annual American CANstruction was considered a success. A competition between engineering, architecture and interior design firms from around the area, CANstruction left six statues, made entirely from packaged food to be donated to MANNA Food Pantries for distribution in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties around various businesses for September’s Gallery Night. The public was invited to view these structures and vote on their favorite design by making a contribution to MANNA. First place was awarded to Bullock Tice and Associates for their piece titled “Something Fishy” and second place was awarded to Dalrumple | Sallis Architecture for their structure titled “Canzo the Clown.”
“It’s something that started on a national level with the architectural, professional society.” said Tim Evans, the executive director for MANNA, “It has been something that we have been doing here locally that has a much deeper history than that… It’s been going on across the country and, even as I understand, in some international venues where designers and architects get together and do the same type of thing.”
The awards ceremony was held at Seville Quarter shortly before Gallery Night kicked off. Next to the participates and viewers sat a 1,500-can fire truck constructed by STOA Architects. Each team received MANNA’s Empty Plate Award “in appreciation of the efforts to raise resources and funds to fight hunger in Northwest Florida.” Other awards included Honorable Mention (given to Bay Design for their “PeliCAN in Paradise” and Dalrymple | Sallis Architecture), Best Use of Labels (given to Bullock Tice and Associates), and the Juror’s Favorite (given to Artisan’s Architecture, LLC for their “Cheeseburger in Paradise”.)
According to Evans, the event was extremely helpful for MANNA. “This is really nice. If you see this one here…” as he pointed to the fire truck. “…where the sign says 1,500 items.”
“If we get that many items out of each of these six builds… that will probably be somewhere in the area of ten thousand pounds of food, which is a substantial shot in the arm for us.”
“We are very fortunate that with the community’s help we’ve been able to meet all of the need that has come to us. We have enough supply that those people who are coming for assistance, no one is turned away because we are short of food.” said Evans. “MANNA is available for anybody in the community. It’s not just for people who have hit rock bottom, but for people who are struggling and maybe have a bump in the road or particular bill that they have to meet that puts them real short for a month because they have lost some wages… All of us probably know somebody who’s been impacted by the economy.”