The 14th annual Cincinnati Canstruction event begins this morning at 8 A.M. at five Downtown locations.

Canstruction is an international design-build competition and exhibition featuring teams of architecture and engineering professionals, all charged with assembling large-scale sculptures entirely out of canned and non-perishable packaged foods.

This year's venues are the Weston Art Gallery, the , the Downtown branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, the Contemporary Arts Center, and the .

But Cincinnati Canstruction also serves as a community service project. When the sculptures are disassembled in two weeks, the products will be donated to the Freestore Foodbank for distribution to more than 500 member agencies in 20 Tri-State counties.

Competing this year are teams from BHDP Architecture and Messer Construction Company; Champlin Architecture; Cincinnati State Technical and Community College; CR Architecture and Design and the Quandel Group; FRCH Design Worldwide; GBBN Architects, TriVersity Construction Group and Turner Construction Company; Hixson Architecture Engineering Interiors; and PEDCO E&A Services.

Winners will be selected by a panel of seven celebrity jurors and will be announced at an awards gala, March 11 from 5:30 P.M.-8:30 P.M. at the Aronoff Center for the Arts' Fifth Third Theater. Finalists will compete in a national competition scheduled in May.

In its previous 13 competitions, Cincinnati Canstruction has donated more than 400,000 pounds of food.

This year's competition is sponsored by the Cincinnati chapters of the Society for Design Administration and the American Institute of Architects.

Photos courtesy of Cincinnati Canstruction