Liliana has always been curious about the world of art, design, and construction. When she began high school, she entered their architectural program where her instructor inspired her to pursue a career in architecture. During this time, she realized that she could make a positive impact on society through its manipulation of the built environment.

Her academic and professional aspirations are continuously supported by her family. Her family has taught her what hard work can accomplish. Through their loving support she believes she can make positive changes onto people’s lives through her designs.

Her hobbies outside of architecture include making or doing anything that requires a hands-on approach such as painting, crotchet, swimming, and other outdoor activities. What she loves most is spending time with her family and taking her dog on long walks.

Liliana Ocon will be receiving her Bachelor of Science in Architecture this May from the Texas Tech University Huckabee College of Architecture at El Paso. She has been accepted into the University of Texas at Austin where she will pursue her Master of Architecture this upcoming Fall of 2023.

The Hilles House (1958) is the family home of the late architect David Hilles, his late wife Suzi and their three children, though it changed hands in 2020 and is undergoing restoration. Hilles designed and built the house within the decade of graduating from the Yale School of Art and Architecture, after having studied and worked under the influential modernist, Paul Schweikher. The house was achieved with a middle-class budget, precise use of space and elemental, local, and reused materials. It remains an intact object lesson in the transition from vernacular to mid-century modernism.

Julius Shulman photographed the home in 1961 and remarked that it sits “very comfortably in this domain“, having appreciated the structure’s relationship to a challenging slope on the eastern foothills of the Franklin mountains. The home typifies the zeitgeist Shulman sought to document, and images of it continue to appear in publications about Shulman’s work.

End your TxA Annual Conference experience with a very special sundown reception hosted by the AIA El Paso Chapter at the 1958 Hilles House. Take in the crescent moon and a panorama of three mountain ranges along with midcentury cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a talk by NYIT professor Bill Palmore on the Midcentury Architecture of El Paso.

Continuing Education credit will be offered with your AIA Number on the day of the event.

Date: Saturday, 10.29.22

Time: 5:30 p.m.

Location: 3204 El Morro Road, El Paso 79904

Admission: $100.00 per person

Student Spotlight

An evening of Midcentury vibes and cocktails at the Hilles House