By Sahira Memon
Rose constructed from 4,000 cans to raise funds for local food banks
Downtown Vancouver, including iconic buildings such as The Four Seasons Hotel, the HSBC Pendulum Gallery at Hornby, the FortisBC Building, and the Flour Building is home to 20 structures of varying shapes and sizes, made entirely from cans of food. A number of schools and companies were represented, and this year marked the first time that SFU was among them.
Canstruction Vancouver is an annual design competition that encourages the participation of teams of architects, engineers, designers, and schools in creating giant structures made of canned food, with the winners having the opportunity to have their work displayed in public art exhibits all across downtown Vancouver. At the close of the exhibits, all of the cans used in creating the structures are donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank. Since 2002, Canstruction Vancouver has been responsible for raising a total of 1,056,043 cans for the community.
“SFU has been asked to compete year after year, but no one’s really taken initiative,” said team co-captain and faculty of environment student representative Maziar Kazemi to The Peak.
In January, this competition came to the attention of Kazemi and the Faculty of Environment as “a good opportunity to get into the community and do something charitable,” according to Kazemi. They then began rounding up students to create a team, including a variety of students from the Faculty of Environment, School of Interactive Art and Technology, engineering sciences, and arts and social sciences. They also worked to receive support from the community, and they received a substantial amount with the SFSS advocacy committee, Sustainable SFU, the Faculty of Environment, SFU Facilities, SFU Community Trust, MET Printers, and SIFE: Let’s Can Hunger, along with local businesses contributing to the team.
The SFU team was able to raise the most money for the event, and was praised as the most dedicated team by Canstruction co-chair Janice Podmore.
The team of students succeeded in replicating the Simon Fraser Rose, a hybrid rose named in honour of the explorer Simon Fraser. The centre of the 4,000-can rose is meant to symbolize the three SFU campuses connected as one, the petals represent Metro Vancouver, and the leaves of the rose represent all of British Columbia.
“As a whole, the three separate parts of the rose combined reflect the community fostered by Simon Fraser University and the essence of the City of Vancouver,” said Kazemi in an email to The Peak.
The rose can be viewed at the HSBC Pendulum Gallery at Hornby from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and all exhibits will be on display until April 4.
The SFU team also has the chance to win the Vancouver Sun Viewer’s Choice Award for their work. Kazemi hopes to create a Canstruction club and continue SFU’s participation in this event for years to come.
“It’s really important to show that SFU students don’t just excel in academics . . . we are also thinking of the world,” said Kazemi.
