Abel Design Group partnered with Canstruction® Houston, Inc. the students at Booker T. Washington High School, and The Children’s Museum of Houston, for an exclusive Earth Day exhibition benefiting The Houston Food Bank. The exhibition was underwritten by Thomas Printworks and canned goods were sponsored by H-E-B.
Through the mentorship of Abel Design Group associates, a special Canstruction project was designed by Booker T. Washington High School students for The Children’s Museum of Houston and built on Earth Day, April 23. The structure was on display through Friday, April 29. Museum guests were able to watch the process of the Canstruction being built on-site. The structure was dismantled by the students of Booker T. Washington high school on Saturday, April 30th, and the canned goods used to build the structure were donated to The Houston Food Bank.
Abel Design Group’s award-winning designer, Kim Busch, served as lead mentor to the Booker T. Washington team of students. Kim Busch’s work for the EaDo – East Downtown Promenade – has earned both an Urban Design Award from Houston AIA and first place from the Land Water Sustainability Forum.
“We are honored to have been selected for this Earth Day collaboration with Canstruction Houston and The Children’s Museum of Houston. The caliber of talent, and the ingenuity of the Booker T. Washington students is incredible,” stated Dare Lovett, Abel Design Group Principal. “We also would like to recognize Dr. Nghia Le, the students’ instructor, for his leadership and dedication. Every school should have a Dr. Le.”
About Abel Design Group
Founded in Houston, Texas in 2001, Abel Design Group is a premiere architecture and design firm that offers architecture and design services for corporate, hospitality, restaurant and retail clients, nationally and internationally. Abel Design Group was recently selected for the third consecutive year for the Houston Business Journal’s Fast 100 list, and was also selected as one of the Best Places to Work in the Houston Business Journal’s annual competition.
About Canstruction
Canstruction is a non-profit organization in which teams of architects, engineers, construction firms and students compete to create giant structures made entirely out of canned food. After the event all food is donated to the local food bank. Canstruction was founded in 1992 by the Society for Design Administrators and has since raised nearly 30 million pounds of food for local communities around the world. Canstruction is one of the largest internationally recognized food drives of its kind.
About The Children’s Museum of Houston
The Children’s Museum of Houston serves an audience of more than 1 million children and families. Average annual onsite attendance is approximately 800,000 with another 251,339 served through offsite outreach programming at 248 centers throughout the Houston area, in collaboration with 642 community partners.
About The Houston Food Bank
In fall 2008, the Houston Food Bank merged with End Hunger Network, a Houston-area food rescue organization, thus making more effective use of community resources by working together as one. In fiscal year 2014-2015, the Houston Food Bank distributed 74,000,000 nutritious meals. The vision for the future is to expand service to the community to 100,000,000 nutritious meals by 2018. Every dollar donated to the Houston Food Bank provides the equivalent of three meals for an individual.
photo credit: Shannon O’Hara