21st Annual CANstruction Theme - CANtennial: Design of the Decades!
In honor of AIA Hawai‘i’s 100th anniversary, the 2026 Canstruction® theme invites teams to celebrate a century of creativity, culture, and design. CANtennial: Designs of the Decades challenges each team to bring an assigned decade to life by reimagining an iconic object, place, movement, or moment from that era—entirely out of canned goods. From the bold beginnings of the 1920s to the innovations of today, this theme highlights how design reflects its time while contributing to a collective legacy built over 100 years.
2026 Competition Dates
Build Day: Saturday, Sep 19 from 9am-2pm
Where: Kahala Mall
Keiki Corner: Saturday, Sep 19, 10am-12pm
Structures Up: Saturday, Sep 19 - Saturday, Sep 26
Structures on display for public viewing and People's Choice Award voting
This year, eight teams of local architects and allied design and engineering professionals put their design and building skills to the test as they creatively “CANstruct” dynamic 3D structures – each made entirely of several thousand cans of food, which will be donated to Hawai‘i Foodbank – in AIA Honolulu’s 20th Annual CANstruction® competition at Kahala Mall.
Since its inception, AIA Honolulu’s CANstruction® event has gathered 787,005 pounds of canned goods – enough food to make 712,826 meals, and more than $110,000 for the Foodbank.
