Mississippi State University Mass Timber Design a Competition Finalist

The 2025 Timber Design Competition at the Timber Construction Conference in Pretoria, South Africa has recognized a student project.

Paulina Fernandez, a senior architecture major from Tegucigalpa, Honduras and a student at Mississippi State University, placed ninth out of 130 entries from nine universities across the world for her project “HALO: A Haven of Eternal Rest.”

“The Timber Construction Conference is a vibrant platform that brings together voices from across the built environment and beyond to explore the transformative potential of timber,” the sponsors, the University of Pretoria, said. “Hosted as part of the Growing Timber Connections initiative, the Conference features architects, timber builders, developers, marketers, social influencers, sustainability specialists, academics and event organizers.”

The theme for this year’s Mass Timber Capstone Studio, according to Mississippi State, was “Memory and Consciousness” and students were instructed to design sacral architecture using mass timber. Fernandez designed a cemetery and, according to the school, “said she had a lot of people question her unique choice.”

“Designing for death is not thought of, but the truth is that the death of a loved one is a defining moment in our lives,” she said, defending her choice. “I really wanted to honor grief through architecture. I wanted to make people feel that their loved ones rest peacefully and are alive in memory projected in the timelessness of the mass timber.” 

More than 100 countries, mostly from Africa, have been represented in past competitions, making Fernandez’s entry particularly noteworthy. “Being a finalist in an international competition was very eye-opening for me and really made me more confident about my work. I feel like I’m in the right place, and I’m meant to be in this profession,” she said.

Image: Paulina Fernandez, Mississippi State University

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