For visitors passing through the lobbies of Toronto's TD Centre, an eclectic collection of one-of-a-kind sculptures—all created from cans of non-perishable food—are on display this week. Aiming to close Toronto's hunger gap through a fun competition, the 18th annual 'Canstruction' event has provided some 50,000 pounds of food for the Daily Bread Food Bank, with the creatively-engineered sculptures on public display until May 19th.

BeaCan of Hope Structure, image courtesy of David Crowder Photography

The Canstruction build night took place on the evening of May 15th, with teams of professional designers, architects, engineers and students spending nearly seven hours building their structures. The sculptures were anonymously judged on May 16th, and winners were announced at an evening reception held at the Design Exchange, with CityNews' Francis D’Souza acting as Master of Ceremonies.

Hunger: Quite the Pickle!, image courtesy of David Crowder Photography

This year's prizes were awarded to

  • Aercoustics Engineering Limited; BeaCan of hope for best original design
  • Blackwell Structural Engineers Hunger: Quite the Pickle! for structural ingenuity
  • Turner Fleischer Architects; Can you see through the looking glass structure for best use of labels
  • Echologics; Hunger is in your neighbourhood structure for best meal
  • IBI Group; We can unite structure for most cans.

Alert: Hunger is in your neighbourhood!, image courtesy of David Crowder Photography

In all, 50,000 pounds of donated non-perishable food were sculpted into edible statues. Helen Kabriel, co-chair of Canstruction Toronto, described the event as "a unique food drive and a way for the design community to collaborate creatively while giving back to our community." Kabriel also noted that the structures help stir a city-wide discussion on hunger and the socio-economic challenges facing many Toronto residents.

We can unite!, image courtesy of David Crowder Photography

The 'Canstructures' are on public display in the lobbies of the TD Bank, TD North, and Ernst & Young towers until this Friday. The sculptures will then be disassembled and the food donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank, the largest distributor of non-perishables to food banks and meal programs across Toronto. 

Can you see through the looking glass?, image courtesy of David Crowder Photography

Canstruction Toronto is also hosting a 'People’s Choice Award,' encouraging anyone passing through the TD Centre—or browsing through the photos online—to vote online by liking a picture of their favourite sculpture on Facebook, via Canstruction Toronto's official page.

Walsh Canada's submission, image courtesy of David Crowder Photography

The People's Choice Award closes on May 20th at midnight. Photos of all of this year's competing structures can be found at www.facebook.com/canstructionTO.