Where Creativity Meets Community: Our CANstruction Story

Over the past few months, our Emerging Professionals Group has been hard at work bringing our vision to life for CANstruction—a unique competition organized by the AIA where teams design and build large-scale structures entirely out of canned goods for charity. This experience combined innovation, teamwork, and artistry. This year, AIA Philadelphia’s CANstruction theme, “Inventions/Innovations that Shaped American History,” inspired us to think about everyday objects that have made a lasting impact. Our choice? The crayon.

While crayons date back to ancient civilizations, Pennsylvania holds a special place in its history as the first state to mass-produce them in the United States. This innovation perfectly embodies the principles that guide design: creativity, exploration, education, and imagination. It felt like a natural fit for a project centered on both design and community.

Once the idea was defined, the team focused on planning the structure. They tested different heights, checked for stability, and figured out how each layer of cans would connect. From there, it became a process of shaping and reshaping. Different crayon designs, different layouts, and different box ideas. Each attempt pointed the team in a better direction until the vision started to take form.

Not everything was straightforward. Dented cans had to be set aside, and keeping every can aligned took effort. A solution of packing tape and plotter tubes successfully kept everything together. During the final build, things didn’t go exactly as planned. A few crayons had to be reworked on the spot. But by that point, adapting was part of the process and the team adjusted, kept moving, and brought it all together.

Despite the challenges, build night was an incredible success. In just about two and a half hours, the team—including Dan Christie, Marina Schaeffer, Lauren McCabe, Tim Appman, Oussama Khalfi, and Rachel Dunkelberger—constructed a vibrant, nearly five-foot-tall installation created with 922 cans. Dan, the project lead, shared that “watching the design take shape in real time was both exciting and fulfilling.” Lauren described the experience as especially rewarding: “Beyond the construction, one of the standout moments was connecting with the broader design community, seeing familiar faces, sharing ideas, and celebrating each other’s work.”

Most importantly, the event reinforced the true purpose of CANstruction: giving back. Hosted at Cherry Street Pier in Philadelphia, PA, the event brought the community together to support a great cause as all canned goods are donated to Philabundance — a nonprofit food bank whose mission is to end food hunger within the Philadelphia area and the surrounding counties in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Seeing the volume of contributions was both uplifting and inspiring. Our finished structure transformed simple materials into something dynamic and meaningful, proof that even the most ordinary objects can spark big ideas. We were proud to have participated in this event and even more proud knowing the cans are now helping to support those in need.

This project was a reminder that great design isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about problem-solving, collaboration, and making a positive impact!