Joseph Hill Wins Microhome Competition Student Award With Design Rooted in Culture and Place

For fifth-year architecture student Joseph Hill, his approach to design is shaped by more than just the classroom. Growing up in Unterschleißheim, a small town near Munich, Germany, Hill was exposed to a different way of experiencing space, one that continues to influence his work today.

Originally from Austin, Texas, Hill moved with his family to Germany when he was about 3 or 4 years old, and he lived there until returning to Austin in the fifth grade. His upbringing between German and American cultures and locales gave him an early understanding of how cities function differently depending on how they are designed and used. He was especially drawn to the contrast between older European cities and more modern development patterns.

"What Europe really gave me was an understanding of how cities can be social places — like the walkable streets, the plazas, spaces where people can slow down," Hill said. "Coming back to the U.S., especially in the American suburbs, I realized a lot of those spaces that shape communities are sometimes lost. I think that sort of contrast stayed with me, and I think it informs how I approach my design. I'm trying to always think about what a space does for the people around it and not just the people inside it."

Now, as the Student Award winner in the 10th edition of the Buildner MICROHOME Competition, Hill has translated those early influences into globally minded, climate-responsive design. His award-winning project, Amphibious Living Unit — Mekong Prototype, reflects a philosophy rooted in culture, community and environmental awareness. The project explores a system of adaptable floating homes designed for the Mekong River Basin, responding to seasonal flooding while supporting communal living and shared infrastructure. This recognition comes with a prize of 5,000 Euros.

An Early Interest in Design

Hill's interest in architecture didn't begin with large buildings or formal training, but rather with a formative childhood experience around age 6. A community initiative came into his neighborhood in Germany, and the children were involved in designing their own playground. He said the project was deeply collaborative, with children handling the design and adults taking care of the building.

"We all had to make little models, and I threw myself into it. I was carving whatever I could find, using a pocketknife, sticks, moss, popsicle sticks," Hill said. "I think I really fell in love with the idea of building and shaping these spaces and kind of making something, seeing the design come to life and seeing the community build it."

A focus on people is at the core of Hill's design process, beginning with how they move through a space. He prioritizes circulation rather than aesthetics alone as a way to guide experience and create a sense of ownership, control and connection with a space.

"It's easy to kind of keep this bird's-eye view when you're designing," he said, "but it's important to really imagine yourself in the space and to imagine the practical questions about how you, as a person in that moment, would want to move through these spaces that you're designing."

Hill's human-centered approach also shapes how he thinks about community. He focuses on finding a balance and creating opportunities for interaction while leaving room for people to define their own experiences. While strategic design can guide behavior, ultimately it is the people within the space who bring it to life.

"Our job is to set those conditions thoughtfully, and I think finding the balance for that is really interesting. Like, how do you balance this sort of variable in the way you design and the way you want people to engage with each other?" Hill said. "I think a lot about that when I'm trying to design these areas. I think we have the power to influence, but nothing is set in stone. We can influence, but we can't force anything, and I think good design balances that."

In Hill's approach to innovation, he looks to precedent and studies both historical and contemporary examples to inform his designs. An important step is researching vernacular architecture, which refers to traditional building methods developed over time in response to local climates, materials and cultural practices.

"Innovation doesn't really mean starting from scratch. It means looking closely at what already exists," he said. "There's so much intelligence in vernacular architecture, how buildings respond to climate and landscape over time."

Amphibious Living Unit — Award-Winning Prototype

Hill's Amphibious Living Unit was an award-winning entry in an international competition, hosted in collaboration with Kingspan, which challenges designers to create an off-grid modular microhome under 25 square meters. The competition focused on sustainability, adaptability and real-world feasibility, encouraging innovative approaches to micro-living that could be built in any location.

Hill's project is sited in the Mekong River Basin, a region defined by seasonal flooding, and its design reconsiders how housing can adapt to fluctuating water levels. His project is a circular, modular microhome, where the structure floats during high water and settles on a simple frame when water levels recede. It uses lightweight, local materials and an adaptable layout to create a resilient, low-impact living system.

In researching the region's vernacular architecture, he discovered that materials such as bamboo and thatch roofing have been used for generations. These materials are practical, breathable, adaptable and efficient — while also being deeply connected to the environment and culture.

One of the most defining aspects of his project was its bamboo structural system. He became interested in bamboo as both a structural and cultural material while studying the work of the architect Anna Heringer. He said it's "a genuinely versatile structural material" that is also "incredibly beautiful," while holding a strong sense of place in the Mekong context where it is naturally abundant.

By taking embedded knowledge and reconfiguring it to meet modern needs, his designs are grounded in tradition and responsive to change. This approach is especially evident in the project's weave facade, one of Hill's favorite elements. The facade acts as a protective layer, filtering light and providing privacy that can be easily repaired or replaced — an intentional choice for a structure so exposed to water and weather.

By choosing the Mekong River region for this project, he challenged himself to learn about and fully engage with a culture and environment completely different from his own.

"When you step outside your comfort zone… you have to research and listen," he said. "It makes you more curious. It makes you more careful. You can't rely on your instincts like you might in a familiar context."

A Sustainable Design Focused on Community

Through studying the region's daily life on the water, he began to understand the cultural significance of the environment. Rather than resisting these conditions, Hill embraced them. He was inspired by how the people and community in the region adapt to seasonal flooding as a natural part of everyday life.

"I didn't want to design something that treated flooding purely as a problem. I wanted to acknowledge that this is a way of life," Hill said. "It was just so impressive to watch how these people have adapted. And I think that, for us as designers, our projects should almost reflect that same attitude. Not seeing conditions as something we need to deal with or reject, but something to embrace and accept."

When designing this system of circular homes, one of the biggest challenges was devising a floating foundation. He arranged recycled water barrels so that they function together, while also ensuring stability and buoyancy. He also had to develop an anchoring system that would allow movement without losing structure. By studying offshore engineering systems and other precedents, Hill adapted existing solutions to fit the needs of his design.

"A lot of times when I'm faced with challenges, I try to find answers that already exist," he said.

Choosing a circular layout for his design added another layer of complexity, but it was intentional. Hill wanted the design to have a centralized heart but still feel spacious within a 25-square-meter footprint. Beyond the individual homes, the project expands into a larger network of interconnected units, shared platforms and communal garden spaces.

"Community was really the backbone of the project," Hill said. "Living on the water shouldn't feel isolated."

The connecting platforms allow residents to move freely between homes, which creates a sense of community and accessibility. Shared garden modules provide spaces for collaboration and sustainability, encouraging people to come together and contribute to a collective system.

"What makes it so unique and so special is this is a place where people can come together," Hill said. "There is like a whole system of living that works with this condition that doesn't feel like they are forced to live with, but something that is a part of their culture and it's something that they appreciate."

For Hill, the future of architecture — designing the built environment — is all about finding balance between innovation and tradition, people and place, design and nature.

With projects such as the Amphibious Living Unit, he shows that designing with the environment doesn't mean sacrificing creativity. It just means rethinking how people exist within it. For Hill, sustainable architecture emphasizes the value of traditional building methods that respond directly to climate and place.

"I think for me the biggest message I want to send out is that sustainable architecture does not mean compromise. I think the idea holds a lot of people back, and it's something I feel very strongly about pushing against," he said. "I think that it is going to take a lot more effort for us as designers, but I think that's exactly what this moment asks of us. I think we can show that building sustainably can also mean building beautifully. And I think that makes a much stronger case than anything else."