While your parents may have told you not to play with your food, they probably never told you not to cosplay as your food. And this year's annual Japanese Canadian community celebration will allow you to do just that.

The Powell Street Festival Society presented a challenge to architecture and landscape students to present proposals for design structures for interaction at the annual festival. Entrants had to factor in considerations about civic engagement, cultural relevance, environmental sustainability, and practical design limitations.

The jury was comprised of PFS Studio landscape architect Kelty McKinnon, Office of McFarlane Biggar architect Steve MacFarlane, ASIR architekten architect Inge Roecker, and representatives from the Powell Street Festival Society, Bing Thom Architects, and Abaton Projects.

The jury unanimously chose a proposal from a team of UBC architecture master's candidates consisting of Arkgo Chen, Yilang Kang, Jivan Khera, Alex Laos, and Divine Ndemeye. 

The team concocted a whimsical and tasteful installation entitled Macro Maki in which festival attendees can don pillow-sized sushi costumes and shoot selfies on a stage that's designed like a massive wooden sushi tray or engage in other various shenanigans, outlandish waggery, and other nonsensical skimdimmery for no apparent reason.

“We reviewed some very thoughtful submissions, but Macro Maki really stood out for its playful re-purposing of a cultural touchstone to stimulate positive social interaction and create new memories of place,” OMB's McFarlane stated in a news release. (He did not go on to disclose whether or not the judges evaluated the projects on empty stomachs.)

Consequently, the team has scarfed down a yummy $1,000 prize, a production budget, and mentorship from Bing Thom Architects and Abaton Projects.

Honorable mention went to Jérémie Dussault-Lefebvre and Sebastien Roy for their proposed Bloom, Insens, and Sun.

Development of the delectable design is now underway and will be revealed at the opening ceremony of the 41^st annual Powell Street Festival on August 5. The 2017 Powell Street Festival will be held on August 5 and 6.

Last year, a BCIT student team won the design competition with a Japanese carp installation.