Architecture student earns top honors at national design competition

A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Architecture student has earned top national honors at an industry-sponsored design competition held during the annual convention of the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) in Kansas City, Missouri from February 2–6.

Rebecca Hiller, a master of architecture candidate, participated in Project Precast, a three-day design charrette that challenges students to develop innovative building proposals using precast concrete systems under real-world constraints. The competition emphasized interdisciplinary collaboration, with each team composed of two architecture students, one structural engineering student and one construction management student.

Hiller received the WOW Award, presented to the most outstanding individual student among all participants. In addition, her team earned the Award of Excellence – Outstanding Structural Design, recognizing the group’s technical rigor, structural innovation and integrated design approach.

“The competition was an intense but rewarding experience,” Hiller said. “Working closely with students from structural engineering and construction management pushed our design thinking beyond architecture alone. It showed how much stronger a project can be when design, structure and construction are developed together from the start.”

The competition took place during the PCI Convention and involved interaction with industry professionals, who served as mentors and jurors throughout the charrette. Teams were evaluated on design quality, constructability, structural performance and clarity of presentation.

“Rebecca consistently demonstrated the ability to connect design intent with structural logic and constructability,” UH Mānoa architecture Professor Ho Kyung Lee said. “Her success at Project Precast reflects steady growth over multiple semesters and a genuine commitment to collaborative, interdisciplinary design.”

Hiller’s project, Riverside Station, is a multimodal transportation hub encompassing four stories and approximately 130,000 square feet. It integrates a streetcar station, shuttle and car drop-off areas, parking facilities and a variety of community-serving spaces. Its building systems—from façade to structure—primarily rely on precast concrete, celebrating the material’s versatility and range of applications.

Hiller’s accomplishments highlight UH Mānoa’s architecture curriculum and the ability of its students to excel in national, interdisciplinary design environments that bridge design education and professional practice.