Canstruction Team salutes community heroes

Posted: March 23, 2012 1:00 a.m.

Engineering and Applied Science student Arin Dolph with the Canstructions Team's Souperman entry.
Engineering and Applied Science student Arin Dolph with the Canstructions Team's Souperman entry. Photo: Faculty of Engineering

What makes Superman a superhero? Is it his superior strength, his ability to leap over tall buildings in a single bound or is it his goodwill toward humanity? 

The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Canstruction Team likes to think it is the latter.  That’s why their version of Superman, called “Souperman, Man of Tin” is an eight-foot tall, tin can hero who is making a donation to the Regina and District Food Bank. 

Canstruction - an annual competition held around the world - involves teams of engineers and architects building gigantic structures out of cans of food, which are later donated to local food banks.

This year’s University of Regina team included mostly engineering students – and one business student – who have been team veterans for the past two-to-three years. But the Souperman design was the brainchild of team newcomer, Arin Dolph.

“I tried to come up with something no one had done previously, and I realized I'd never seen a human done before,” says Arin about coming up with the design. “The second I thought of this, I thought we had to do a superhero. At this point, it was just picking a hero who was highly recognizable and actually doable.” For the team, his suggestion of Souperman was the only choice.

The larger-than-life superhero stands adjacent to an equally gigantic phone booth designed by team veteran Tokini Briggs.  At Souperman’s feet is a basket made of cans of beans filled with the top ten items needed by the Regina and District Food Bank.  The total structure is composed of more than 5,600 cans.  Since 2009, the team has donated about 16,900 cans in total.

The structures are on display at the Northgate Mall and Cornwall Centre until March 31 where the public can vote for its favourites. They can also vote by ‘liking’ their favourite structure on the Regina and District Food Bank's Facebook Page.