More than ever, AEC firms and their suppliers are wedding innovation with corporate responsibility. How they are addressing climate change usually gets the headlines. But as the following articles in our AEC Innovators package chronicle, companies are attempting to make an impact as well on the integrity of their supply chains, the reduction of construction waste, and answering calls for more affordable housing and homeless shelters. As often as not, these companies are partnering with municipalities and nonprofit interest groups to help guide their production.
Meet our 2023 AEC Innovators!
New Horizon Urban Mining
Meet the 'urban miner' who is rethinking how we deconstruct and reuse buildings
New Horizon Urban Mining, a demolition firm in the Netherlands, has hitched its business model to construction materials recycling. It's plan: deconstruct buildings and infrastructure and sell the building products for reuse in new construction. Read the article.
Turner Construction
Turner Construction extends its ESG commitment to thwarting forced labor in its supply chain
The construction giant joins a growing AEC industry movement, inspired by the Design for Freedom initiative, to eliminate forced labor and child labor from the production and distribution of building products. Read the article.
Cassette
Multifamily construction startup Cassette takes a different approach to modular building
Prefabricated modular design and construction have made notable inroads into such sectors as industrial, residential, hospitality and, more recently, office and healthcare. But Dafna Kaplan thinks that what’s held back the modular building industry from even greater market penetration has been suppliers’ insistence that they do everything: design, manufacture, logistics, land prep, assembly, even onsite construction. Kaplan is CEO and Founder of Cassette, a Los Angeles-based modular building startup. Read the article.
Pallet Shelter
Pallet Shelter is fighting homelessness, one person and modular pod at a time
Everett, Wash.-based Pallet Inc. helped the City of Burlington, Vt., turn a municipal parking lot into an emergency shelter community, complete with 30 modular “sleeping cabins” for the homeless. Read the article.
Related Stories
AEC Innovators | Aug 27, 2019
7 AEC industry disruptors and their groundbreaking achievements
From building prefab factories in the sky to incubating the next generation of AEC tech startups, our 2019 class of AEC Innovators demonstrates that the industry is poised for a shakeup. Meet BD+C’s 2019 AEC Innovators.
AEC Innovators | Aug 27, 2019
How engineering giant BuroHappold democratizes tech innovation
The firm's Computational Collective initiative presents employees with “a different way of thinking and working.”
AEC Innovators | Aug 26, 2019
Clayco seeks the cutting edge as a competitive advantage
Innovation has been in Clayco’s DNA since this general contractor was founded in 1984.
AEC Innovators | Aug 15, 2019
Oracle’s replica of a construction jobsite creates an immersive environment for AEC professionals
The Oracle Construction and Engineering Innovation Lab allows visitors to walk through five different stages of construction work, to test new AEC technologies and training techniques.
AEC Innovators | Aug 13, 2019
Stacking the deck: Marriott International embraces modular construction
The hotel giant has more than 50 projects in the works that incorporate prefab guestrooms or bathrooms.
AEC Innovators | Aug 9, 2019
Improving architectural designs through iteration
Computational design lets ZGF Architects see patterns that renderings and even models can’t show.
AEC Innovators | Aug 6, 2019
Structural engineer speeds skyscraper construction with novel building core design
With its Speed Core composite core wall system, Magnusson Klemencic Associates thinks it’s found a faster way to complete high-rise buildings.
AEC Innovators | Aug 5, 2019
Mace Group builds working on top of under-construction skyscrapers
The six-story factories eliminated the need for tower cranes, and increased productivity to the point where crews could complete 18 floors in 18 weeks.
