KTGY Designers Swirl Through the Evening at South Coast Plaza to Create a Refreshing Treat

Sept. 20, 2008 - PRLog -- IRVINE, CALIF. - Award winning KTGY GROUP, INC., Architecture and Planning announced today that the firm has won an honorable mention for its design "You’ve Been Soft Served" in Orange County's 1st annual CANstruction design/build competition at the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, Calif.  

KTGY's innovative design and planning capabilities, normally reserved for real estate builders, owners, investors and developers of all property types, were used to design a colorful soft serve ice cream cone comprised of 1,521 Trader Joe's canned food items in the CANstruction design/build competition. The judges commented on KTGY's good use of labels, clever structure, cute name and great colors. The CANstruction design/build competition serves as a canned food drive to support the Orange County Food Bank, which services more than 450,000 Orange County residents that are food insecure.  

KTGY and its personnel generously donated $2,200 in canned food items. Four local Trader Joe's stores donated $450 in canned goods, with Rick Garbeloza, store manager at the Irvine University Town Center store, leading the effort of getting donations from three other local stores (Irvine Walnut Village Center, Santa Ana and Newport Beach Crystal Cove). OCB Reprographics in Irvine, Calif. provided material for the sculpture platform.  

KTGY's Ben Kasdan, AIA, LEED AP served as the team captain for the soft serve ice cream cone design/build and was assisted by other KTGY designers and staff including Sarah Bradshaw, Doug Heaton, Jessica Musick, Chris Weimholt, Marissa Kasdan, Daniel Roberts, Bryan Sevy and Corey DeManty. KTGY designer Louie Garcia served on the board for CANstruction and was instrumental in making this fun event rewarding and supportive of the Orange County residents who need that helping hand.

"It was an exciting process as we had many factors to incorporate," said KTGY's Kasdan. "Our goal was to create a unique and fun design that would tie into South Coast Plaza's Festival of Children as well as supply critical food items that would meet the nutritional needs of those individuals and families that depend on the Orange County Food Bank. Using Trader Joe's beautifully labeled store brand canned goods provided us with the ability to bring in more details and realistic coloring to our design."

"The sculpture stands 8 ft. tall and 4 ft. at its widest, and weighs in excess of 725 lbs.," added Kasdan.

KTGY's team, along with 11 other team participants made up of local architects and engineers, worked feverishly throughout the night on Friday, September 5th, after the close of business at the South Coast Plaza to assemble their can sculptures. An awards gala was held at South Coast Plaza on September 14th at 6:00 pm. Winning entries from the local events will move onto a national competition and winners at that level are exhibited at the AIA National Convention, which will be held in San Francisco next year.

The structures will be on display and open to the public at South Coast Plaza from September 6th to the 21st during normal plaza operating hours. At the end of the event, the cans used to create the various sculptures will be donated to the Orange County Food Bank for distribution.

CANstruction is a design/build competition held in cities throughout North American and Canada. Teams of Architects and Engineers compete to build unique sculptures made entirely out of canned foods. Last year similar CANstruction events were held in 75 cities across North America, those events resulted in over 2.2 million pounds of food being donated to aid in the fight against world hunger.

CANstruction Orange County is supported by the Orange County Chapters of The Society for Design Administration, The American Institute of Architects, and Society of Marketing Professional Services. For more information about CANstruction Orange County or to donate to the Orange County Food Bank, visit www.canstructionoc.org.

Established in 1991, KTGY GROUP, INC., Architecture and Planning, provides comprehensive planning and architectural design services for residential communities, retail developments, hospitality and related specialty projects. KTGY delivers innovative solutions that reflect clear understanding of development, marketing and financial performance and takes particular pride in its highly motivated and principal led studio. Serving clients throughout the U.S., KTGY maintains offices in Irvine, Oakland and Santa Monica, and in Denver. For more information, see www.ktgy.com or contact Sayeh Rad at 949-851-2133.

PHOTO:  (KTGY Group design team)
Top row from the left:  Doug Heaton; Bryan Sevy; Jessica Musick; Marissa Kasdan; Ben Kasdan. Bottom row from the left:  Chris Weimholt; Louie Garcia; Sarah Bradshaw.