A classical Greek structure made of 3,133 canned goods by Anne Arundel Community College architecture students was recently named one of seven runners-up in the honorable mention category at the 10th Annual North American Canstruction" Competition in Los Angeles.

A small-scale replica of the Parthenon in Greece, the entry was the only Maryland winner and one of five AACC local contest entries sent to compete against 330 Canstruction designs nationally, including submissions from professional architecture firms.

Students Chris Corneal of Severna Park, Nick Dziekan of Stevensville and Ian Mattonen of Annapolis built the structure in December for their advanced architectural design class. Corneal was the designer and team leader on the structure.

The trio and other AACC architecture students created canned-food structures in the food court at Arundel Mills in Hanover. The local competition was co-sponsored by the college, Arundel Mills and Food Link Inc., an emergency food program that distributes food to county hunger relief programs.

The 2006 AACC Canstruction competition is set for Dec. 4 at a location to be determined.

Dedicated to fighting hunger, Canstruction is an annual event bringing together colleges, businesses and food banks from more than 55 cities worldwide. After local competitions, all food is distributed to emergency food pantries and hunger relief programs. From July 2005 to the competition’s end in June, groups built 500 structures yielding a total of 1.5 million pounds of food.

Teams competed in the national competition via photographic slides. Structures, containing 1,000 to 13,000 cans of various sizes and shapes, relied on product labels for coloring. The only other materials allowed in the design were 1/4" leveling, cardboard, tape, rubber bands and wire. In addition to honorable mentions, winners were named in five distinct categories: Jurors’ Favorite, Structural Ingenuity, Best Use of Labels, Best Meal and Most Cans.

This was the second year AACC has participated in the competition. The Parthenon was one of five designs submitted to the national competition by AACC students. Their projects consisted of more than 14,000 cans of donated food.

The AACC Center for Learning through Service coordinates the Canstruction" project with the college’s architecture and interior design program. Businesses and organizations help sponsor the build by giving donations to Food Link to purchase canned goods in the sizes, shapes and colors specified by the students’ designs.

For information call Cathleen Doyle, the center program coordinator, at 410-777-2902 or e-mail chdoyle@aacc.edu or Food Link at 410-222-7853.

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