As public radio stations involved in our community, we believe that is appropriate to share our voice with our non-profit brothers and sisters.

Texas Public Radio is always open to partnering with local organizations in order to bring attention to issues and concerns pertinent to San Antonio and the surrounding area. We have come across yet another such project: Canstruction®.

Canstruction® kicked off this past Sunday at North Star Mall. Nine teams participated in this creative competition to build giant canned good sculptures in an effort to alleviate hunger in our community. The resulting pieces showcased the creative talents of San Antonio's architecture and engineering community.

Texas Public Radio's team of UTSA architecture and engineering students worked tirelessly to transform our conceived design into a canned goods masterpiece. The project was truly ambitious, particularly for a group of students competing against some of the city's most respected architecture and engineering firms.

The students built a design inspired by the Fibonacci Spiral, a visual representation of a mathematical constant found in architecture, music and nature. Construction was defnitely a learning experience as we modified our proposed design in the middle of the day to strengthen our structural integrity. Despite some interesting setbacks, including a collapse toward the end of the day, our teams of students remained energetic and completed a sculpture that was similar to our original design.

TPR would like to thank our team, including Jeff Lewey, John Schieferle Uhlenbrock, Nneoma Duru-Onweni, Sean Smith, and Thomas Hamer, for participating in this event on behalf of our stations.

The sculptures will remain on display at North Star Mall through Sunday, October 14th, when they will be dismantled and all food is donated to the San Antonio Food Bank. Judging takes place today. Texas Public Radio will keep you updated on the winners.

Trademarked by the Society for Design Administration, and working in tandem with the American Institute of Architects and other members of the design and construction industry, Canstruction® is making a significant contribution to the fight against hunger.

Canstruction® combines the competitive spirit of a design/build competition with a unique way to help feed hungry people. Competing teams, lead by architects and engineers, showcase their talents by designing giant sculptures made entirely out of canned foods. At the close of the exhibitions, all of the food used in the structures is donated to local food banks for distribution to pantries, shelters, soup kitchens, elderly and day care centers.

Texas Public Radio has chosen the University of Texas at San Antonio College of Engineering and Department of Architecture to create our entry in the 2007 Canstruction® project. We, along with 14 other design/build teams, will have our structure built in North Star Mall on Sunday, October 7th, where it will remain on display all week. Dismantling occurs on Sunday, October 14th. All canned goods used to create these marvels will be donated to the San Antonio Food Bank for distribution to the dozens of local organizations that strive to eliminate hunger.

TPR's entry into this year's Canstruction® competitition is entitled: The Shape of Texas Public Radio: Intertwined with Humankind. Our design/build team culled inspiration from their studies in architecture and engineering by creating an abstract design based on a Fibonacci spiral. This mathematical constant reflects our unwavering commitment to the community we serve.

The origin of the Fibonacci spiral has its basis in the early forms of music and communication, including Sanskrit and ancient Indian rituals focused on the purity of utterance. Texas Public Radio strives to maintain elevated discourse and musical offerings in the community it serves.

The spiral is closely related to the Golden Ratio, one of the fundamentals of architecture. TPR's Canstruction® participation corresponds with the launch of a brand new podcast, The Shape of Texas, produced for the Texas Society of Architects. The podcast highlights a myriad of contemporary and historical architecture that defines the culture and heritage that are unique to our state. The inaugural podcast episodes celebrate the unique architecture of San Antonio ranging from Mission Espada to the Tower of Americas. You can download the episodes along with an accompanying map at The Shape of Texas podcast page.

We are proud to be part of a nationwide initiative to inspire creativity and ingenuity while simultanously raising awareness about hunger in our communities.

How pervasive is this problem in our area? According to the San Antonio Food Bank, Texas has more than one million people experiencing hunger on a regular basis. Each week in Bexar County, more than twenty-five thousand people receive emergency food assistance from an agency in the San Antonio Food Bank network. More information on how our community is fighting hunger, including a listing of programs and local agencies is available on the San Antonio Food Bank website.

TPR CANstruction Participants

Team Captain: Jeff Lewey
Team Member 1: John Schieferle Uhlenbrock
Team Member 2: Thomas Hamer
Team Member 3: Andy Castillo
Team Member 4: Nneoma Duru-Onweni
Team Member 5: Sean Smith
Team Member 6: Casey Johnson
Team Member 7: Aaron Denton
Team Member 8: Laura Sewell

Special thanks to: Mehdi Shadaram, Ph. D., P.E., Associate Dean, UTSA College of Engineering; and Mark Blizard Chair, UTSA College of Architecture

Texas Public Radio's Canstruction® efforts are made possible by the generous of support of Boyer Custom Homes and Keith Zars Pools.

Thank you to Whole Foods Market for donating the canned goods from their 365 Organic line used to construct our Canstruction creation.