Each year, Altieri’s Women in Engineering group organizes a donation event to support organizations in our local communities. These initiatives provide an opportunity for employees to come together, give back, and make a positive impact beyond our day-to-day work. This year, the group introduced a new twist on its annual tradition with Altieri’s first Canstruction competition, combining teamwork, ingenuity, and a little friendly competition for a great cause!
Canstruction is a global design-build competition that challenges teams in the AEC industry to design impressive structures entirely from canned goods, which are then donated to local organizations. For our inaugural event, we put our own spin on the competition, keeping it in-house and starting with smaller-scale creations.
Working in teams, employees put their imagination and engineering skills to the test, transforming cans of all shapes and sizes into unique structures. From a sailboat and Charmander to a slice of pie and an Altieri-branded robo-droid, the finished creations showcased some impressive ingenuity! Once the builds were complete, employees voted for their favorite design. Taking home the top honor was the sailboat, created by our Boston team!
Of course, the real winners were our local communities. Following the competition, all canned goods were donated to organizations supporting those in need. Our Connecticut office contributed to the Wilton Food Pantry and Pet Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), while our Boston office donated to The Paulist Center. Each organization enthusiastically welcomed the donations and enjoyed seeing the fun structures our teams created.
Altieri’s first Canstruction competition started as a fun team-building activity, but became a meaningful opportunity to give back, bringing together innovation, collaboration, and community spirit. We’re already looking forward to seeing what our teams dream up next year!