'Cat In The Can' wins People's Choice Award at 8th Annual Canstruction

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The results are in from the 8th Annual Canstruction competition at the Jacksonville Main Library, and the hands-down winner among local voters was the "Cat In The Can," a structure made in the form of Dr. Seuss' timeless classic, The Cat In The Hat.

The structure was created by the Skanska USA Building with Ghyabi & Associates using 1,725 cans of soup, tuna and tomato sauce. More than 260 ballots were cast by the general public in this year's competition - the majority of those coming at the First Wednesday Art Walk held earlier this week.

While the general public preferred the design creativity of the "Cat In The Can," Canstruction judges selected "Wall-E," designed by Haskell, as the winner of the Best Meal, Best Use of Labels and Juror's Favorite awards. "Shining A Light On Hunger" won the Structural Integrity Award, while the "Hole-y Grail" won honorable mention.

"Hole-y Grail" was crafted by Connelly & Wicker, Inc. as a representation of the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass, home of THE PLAYERS. The structure will be reconstructed and placed on display during THE PLAYERS in May.

The other five structures will be deconstructed on March 13, with the food products used in their creation donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank of North Florida. In 2008, the event generated more than 17,000 pounds of food - which equates to nearly 11,300 meals. In the first seven years of the event, it has totaled more than 89,000 pounds of donated food to Second Harvest.

"The Cat In The Can" also received honorable mention status from the judges. The designers explained their decision to theme the structure after the Cat In The Hat with the following:

------

"If only we had what The Cat in the Hat has, we could
clean up the problem of hunger...'He has something called
VOOM. VOOM is so hard to get, You never saw anything like it, I
bet. Why VOOM cleans up anything, clean as can be!'

Take your hat off now, Little Cat Z! Take the VOOM off your head! Make it clean up hunger just so! No one will be without food!
One! Two! Three! GO!

Shortly before his death Dr. Seuss said, 'The best slogan I can think of to leave with the U. S. A. would be: 'We can...and we've got to...do better than this.'

We apply Dr. Seuss' profound statement to the commitment
necessary to end hunger in our community and the United States
as a whole."

-------

Canstruction is a foundation of the Society for Design Administration (SDA). Similar competitions will be held in cities throughout North America. In addition to the Jacksonville Main Library, other sponsors of this year's event include the Jacksonville Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Jacksonville Public Library and NGI.
 

CANSTRUCTION® 2009 AWARDS
Best Meal:
"Wall-E" (Haskell)

Best Use of Labels:
"Wall-E" (Haskell)

Structural Ingenuity:
"Shining a Light on Hunger"
(HDR Engineering)

Juror's Favorite:
"Wall-E" (Haskell)

Honorable Mention:
"The Cat in the Can"
(Skanska USA Building with Ghyabi & Associates)

Honorable Mention:
"The Hole-y Grail"
(Connelly & Wicker Inc.)

People's Choice:
"The Cat in the Can"
(Skanska USA Building with Ghyabi & Associates)

2009 Judges:
Robert Arleigh White, executive director of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville
Christopher Noel, president of AIA Jacksonville and senior vice president at TTV Architects
Larry Wilson, senior principal at Rink Design