Sandcastle Contest

Yesterday I made my first trip to Galveston for the AIA Sandcastle Contest. For over two decades Houston area architects, designers, engineers and contractors have taken their tools to East Beach in Galveston for what is considered one of the world’s largest sandcastle competitions. The Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) sponsors this annual contest where some 80 teams have their eyes (and shovels) set on winning the prestigious "Golden Bucket" award. Firms begin months in advance generating ideas, developing designs, and assigning duties. On the day of the event, the teams stretch along the beach meticulously sculpting their sand piles and working non-stop for five hours. The judging of the sandcastles is rated on originality of concept, artistic execution of the concept, technical difficulty, carving technique, and utilization of the site. Besides the official Golden Bucket winner, there is also a Crowd Favorite. In front of each building zone there is a clipboard where the public can sign for the designs they like best. Building teams try to bribe the public for votes so I walked away with candy, beads, key chains, coozie, and best of all…free beer. This year’s theme was going green, so teams had to invent creative ways to pump water from the ocean to their building site without a generator. My favorite pump was a guy on a bike pedaling water through a complex series of pipes. To see pictures of the castles check out my photos link on the right side.

Paz,
Stephanie