The following article and images were written and taken by Stuart Villanueva and originally published on Galveston County Daily News.
East Beach in Galveston was packed Saturday with sandcastle enthusiasts from architectural firms across Houston all competing in the American Institute of Architects Sandcastle Competition.
The annual event featured teams from numerous firms creating themed castles and sculptures for a chance to take home the coveted Golden Bucket Award.
Teams also vied for wins in numerous categories such as best traditional castle, best architectural icon and, new this year, best pop culture themed castle.
The contest is a fundraising event for the American Institute of Architects Houston and the ArCH Foundation, a Houston architecture foundation.
It is one of Galveston’s top-five revenue generating events.
And the winners, according to the institute, are:
Third place Bronze Shovel winners: HKS Architects & Tellepsen with its Sands of Time creation
Second place Silver Shovel winners: Kirksey Architecture + Metzger Construction with its Zombie Land creation
First place Gold Bucket winners: Ziegler Cooper Architects and Paradigm Construction with Iron Man-The Metal Ages
For more images of the event, click here.
