Virginia Tech Upper Quad North Residence Hall Receives 2025 PCI Design Award

The Virginia Tech Upper Quad North Residence Hall in Blacksburg, VA, for which Clark Nexsen served as architect and engineer of record, received a 2025 Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) Sustainable Design Award Honorable Mention. This is the second year in a row the project has won a PCI award, winning a Higher Education/University Honorable Mention last year. The annual PCI Design Awards highlight groundbreaking ideas that overcome obstacles and enhance existing practices. The program demonstrates the ongoing commitment of designers to utilize precast concrete to achieve sustainable, economically viable, aesthetically pleasing, and quickly constructed projects.    

The project earned a Sustainable Design Award Honorable Mention for a variety of factors. The incorporation of Tindall Building System’s precast structure and veneer panels provide Virginia Tech with a durable, sustainable, and long-term solution, as the use of the building is not expected to change throughout its life. GATE Precast retroactively created a plant-specific EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) for the architectural precast concrete mix used on this project, having recently set up an EPD process. The use of fly ash and limestone powder reduced Portland cement content in the structural precast panels, and the manufacturing of precast concrete components in controlled environments reduced energy consumption compared to on-site construction methods. These factors, and more, helped the building earn a LEED v4 Silver certification and influenced its selection for this design award. 

Sustainable Design Award Honorable Mention — Virginia Tech Upper Quad North Residence Hall  

Built for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, the 56,000-square-foot Upper Quad North Residence Hall at Virginia Tech has almost 300 beds for cadet students. Designed in the Collegiate Gothic style found throughout the campus, the four-story building offers traditional-style dorm rooms in triple and double-person occupancy. In addition to the student rooms, the building includes a company meeting room, floor lounges, a group kitchen, regimental offices, company storage, and a mud room where cadets shed their gear after training in the field.  

About PCI  

Founded in 1954, the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI) is the technical institute and trade association for the precast, prestressed concrete structures industry. PCI is responsible for creating opportunities for growth through developing, maintaining, and disseminating the principal Body of Knowledge and certifying the capability to manufacture and install precast, prestressed concrete.