Brandon Bosaz’s and William Walker’s plan for a precast living/learning community they called Innovation Innovillage captured the top prize in the second annual PCI Design Precast contest. In the competition, college architecture students explore innovative uses of architectural precast concrete enclosure systems in structural, sustainable, and artistic ways.

Teams of two or three students present their designs in the form of elevations and 3-D BIM modeling. Students are encouraged to work with a local PCI-certified precast concrete producer to learn about the design-assist method, understand precast concrete production, and the colors and textures needed to complete the design.

“Going into it I didn’t really know a lot about precast concrete beyond parking garages,” said Bosaz. “I didn’t know that were more building types and applications we could do using precast concrete. This forced us to think outside the box and create something that traditionally I would not conceive as a total-precast structure.”

“This is what we thought we would want to see as students ourselves on a university campus if we had the option to design it,” Walker added. He credited Lloyd Kennedy of Finfrock for discussing sustainability with the team and suggesting how to implement it into the design.

Walker and Bosaz presented their winning design at the 2026 PCI Convention last month in Kansas City, Mo.

2025 Design Precast Top Three Teams, all from the University of Maryland

First: Brandon Bosaz and William Walker

Second: Andy Huynh, Thach Pham, and  Kevin Xu

Third: Abby Heng, Bonnie Tran, and Catlinh Tran

The 2026 PCI Design Precast Competition opens June 1.