Canstruction Awards ceremony

Orange County’s top architecture and engineering design firms have elevate canned food to an art form with CANstruction throughout South Coast Plaza and ARTIC through Sunday, Sept. 25

At the end of the CANstruction display, the sculptures made entirely out of cans will be distributed by the OC Food Bank to nearly 400 soup kitchens and food pantries across the county.

Celebrating their ninth year, CANstruction Orange County is taking an artistically fresh perspective on today’s pop culture icons for this year’s competition. Inspirations range from Pokémon and Kobe Bryant, to the loveable characters in The Book of Life, Kung Fu Panda, and Finding Dory.

An annual art show, design competition, and food drive all rolled into one, CANstruction raises hunger awareness by challenging teams to create giant, whimsical, and wildly inventive sculptural masterpieces.

Each team spends months planning and designing their entries, but are only allowed one adrenaline-filled night to meticulously stack and color coordinate cans into incredible and whimsical feats of engineering.

You can come out and celebrate CANstruction Orange County at the “CAN-Do Awards” on Thursday, Sept. 22 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Pirch at SOCO in Costa Mesa to thank and meet the hard-working and creative teams for their work throughout the year. Heavy hors d'oeuvres, wine, and beer included. Tickets cost $50 per person and great gourmet appetizers and unlimited wine and beer. Tickets are available here.

PIRCH is at 3303 Hyland Ave. in Costa Mesa.