Architectural Resources Cambridge wins 2010 CANstruction award for Best Meal Category

ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridgewon the "Best Meal" award for the Boston-based 2010 "CANstruction" competition held this past month. Sponsored annually by the Society for Design Administration and the Boston Society of Architects to benefit The Greater Boston Food Bank, ARC has participated in CANstruction Awards almost every year since 2000. This year, ARC elected to build their design at the Food Bank in downtown Boston. Taking the "hunger is no laughing matter" theme literally, ARC "mapped" the city's neighborhoods, creating a 3-dimensional surface graph of the city of Boston, representing relative levels of hunger in each neighborhood. Hunger levels were determined using statistics on median household incomes as a measure of relative levels of hunger. "As a team, we hoped to make a statement by showing the city of Boston's relationship to hunger in a unique visual way," said Candace Naste who headed the ARC team. "Our cans were carefully selected both individually and as a collective for their nutritional value and contribution to an overall healthy and balanced meal." Other members of the ARC team were: Rebecca Boyer, Alexander Davis, Leslie DelleFave, Charles Kerbel, Priyanka Mashelkar, Alex Matthews, James Meinecke, Amy Northern, Lisa Schoenbrunn, and Doug Shilo. Twelve Boston-area architecture and design firms designed sculptures out of a combined total of 35,000 pounds of food as part of a national community service project that is held in 40 cities across the country. Winners were named during a ceremony at Bunker Hill Community College in October. All of the food was donated to The Greater Boston Food Bank when the exhibit left the College on Nov. 5. Awards were presented in the following categories: * STRUCTURAL INGENUITY and PEOPLE'S CHOICE * BEST USE OF LABELS * BEST MEAL (FRIENDS OF THE FOOD BANK): * JUROR'S FAVORITE * HONORABLE MENTION * DIRECTOR'S CHOICE The structures were judged by an esteemed jury including Jeanne-Marie Boylan, BHCC board of trustees chairman; Joan DeLorey, vice president/partner, Ames & Gough; Robert Davenport, Shaws Supermarket; Billy Craig, director of conventions & business development, Boston Society of Architects; Courtney Hirsch, director, BHCC Creative Services Department, Bunker Hill Community College; Jim Maitland, account executive, Service Point USA; Mark Margulies, principal, Margulies Peruzzi; and Christopher Peabody, Peabody Office Furniture. Founded in 1969, ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, is one of the nation's leading architectural, planning and interior design firms specializing in educational, sports, science and technology, and corporate facilities. With an emphasis on innovative and sustainable design, the firm has garnered more than 70 awards from a wide range of professional organizations and publications. ARC's academic clients include Boston College, Boston University, Duke, Harvard, Johnson & Wales University, MIT, Princeton, Tufts, the University of Massachusetts, as well as a number of independent and public schools. Current and recent corporate clients of the firm include Genzyme, Abbott Laboratories, Millipore, and VMware. CANSTRUCTION is sponsored annually by the Society for Design Administration (SDA) and the Boston Society of Architects and is a trademarked design/build international competition. During the past 15 years, Boston-area design and construction firms have donated nearly 524,000 pounds of food (the equivalent of 399,000 meals) to The Greater Boston Food Bank through their participation in CANSTRUCTION.