We built the pieces required for an end-to-end IC program.

01 / Operating method

Built a way to innovate with construction incumbents.

Nolan Browne’s TEDx talk argued that entrepreneurs cannot modernize a large, regulated industry by trying to replace its incumbents. The DOE-backed Problem Space program turned that idea into an operating method: define an industry problem, expose the requirements and organize the people capable of solving it.

02 / Federal foundation

Turned the case for IC into federal program support.

The Case for Prefab, first launched in 2017 and expanded in 2019, framed industrialized construction as more than a building technique. It connected better buildings with domestic manufacturing, skilled work, economic resilience and national preparedness.

ADL then helped translate that case into the operating architecture of the DOE-funded Advanced Building Construction Collaborative: organize demand, grow supply, improve delivery and inform policy.

03 / Open product

Rallied manufacturers around one open product.

When the pandemic created an urgent need for hospital capacity, ADL convened manufacturers and led an effort to create an open, standardized hospital-room concept that multiple factories could produce. The work helped form the Modular Mobilization Coalition.

The effort exposed the decisive issue: shared intent is not enough. Product rules, component interfaces and delivery authority must be established before a distributed supply base can perform as one system.

ADL then applied the same product-platform logic for a global hospitality company, developing a configurable kit of parts and the economics for repeated deployment.

Visit the Modular Mobilization Coalition ↗

04 / Integrated ecosystem

Designed the ecosystem required to make IC scale.

For the National Science Foundation, ADL organized an Appalachian IC engine spanning product development, factories, workforce, applied research, policy and building demand. NSF encouraged the coalition to submit twice—an unusual opening for a construction-focused program within a science and technology initiative.

The architecture carried into funded work. In 2023, ADL won the $500,000 DOE EPIC Grand Prize to develop the Deployment Engine for hard-tech construction ventures. The Stanford IC course codified the lessons; the Industrialized Construction Summit continues building the national community around them.