How and why do teams of architects and construction professionals turn thousands of cans of food into sculptures?

People watching the building of the fifth biennial Canstruction Rhode Island sculpture exhibit Saturday morning, March 8, are encouraged to ask questions of team members as they step outside their 10-foot-square “construction sites” along the Providence Place Skybridge Concourse. The free competitive exhibit, which benefits the Rhode Island Community Food Bank (www.rifoodbank.org), will run through Friday, March 21.

In addition to providing a major canned food donation, the juried exhibit is designed to raise awareness of the problem of hunger and the necessity for more donors to step up to the plate. The Rhode Island Community Food Bank needs increased contributions to continue serving more than 68,000 people each month through its statewide network of food pantries. The need has grown significantly since 2008, when the Food Bank was serving 37,000 Rhode Islanders.

The Canstruction RI competition features awards selected by a panel of independent jurors, and the opportunity for teams to submit photos of winning sculptures to the international competition (see www.canstruction.org). The juried award categories are “Best Meal,” “Best Use of Labels,” “Structural Ingenuity” and “Jurors’ Favorite” as well as up to two honorable mentions. Viewers may vote for the local “People’s Choice” award.

Keeping the theme and design of their sculptures under wraps until the March 8 build day are seven teams of builders and architects.

Canstruction is a national food charity of the design and construction industry, sponsored by the Society for Design Administration.