Offsite Construction to Drive Sustainable and Scalable Urban Development: A Q&A With Assembly OSM CEO, Andrew Staniforth

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The construction industry is at a pivotal crossroads, grappling with the dual pressures of addressing sustainability goals and meeting the surging demand for affordable, high-quality buildings. At the forefront of this transformation, among other innovative startups, builders, and designers, is Assembly OSM, a truly innovative company that spun out of SHoP Architects, and is on a mission to implement advanced design principles in offsite construction and development, which has the potential to revolutionize how structures are conceived and constructed.

Taking cues from the aerospace industry, Assembly leverages a distributed supply chain of expert fabricators, optimizing logistics and economies of scale. Assembly buildings can adapt to any site and need not be orthogonal, enabling success in dense urban contexts.

andrew staniforth

Andrew Staniforth

CEO, Assembly OSM

In this exclusive Q&A, Andrew Staniforth, CEO of Assembly OSM, offers an insider's perspective on the promise and complexities of offsite construction. From harnessing cutting-edge technology to overcoming logistical hurdles, Andrew discusses how his team is redefining scalability while prioritizing sustainability.

Andrew will also be speaking at our inaugural Offsite Construction Conference in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina! In a session titled "The Modular Innovation Curve: How to Move Fast and Not Break Things," Andrew and his fellow panelists will explore how modular construction is reshaping how the industry delivers projects, promising faster timelines, higher quality, and increased efficiency.

What convinced you to move into modular/prefab/offsite construction originally?

I started my career at Forest City and the first project I ever worked on was 461 Dean Street, the tallest modular tower in North America. It was a fascinating introduction to the industry! It showed how difficult changing an industry as entrenched as construction would be, but also set the high water mark for everything else in my career. A lot of Assembly’s team was involved in that project and it’s amazing to have a team that has made it their life's work to improve construction.

How is Assembly OSM addressing the challenge of design limitations in offsite construction?

At Assembly, we know that unlocking urban markets requires customization, while driving efficiency in manufacturing relies on standardization. To balance these two needs, we take a subassembly approach. By combining standardized components into unique layouts, we’re able to deliver the flexibility developers want without compromising the efficiency and precision of a manufacturing process.

Are certain parts of a build easier to customize than others? Will Assembly expand its customization options?

Absolutely! The easiest way to think about it is - what you can see can be customized, and what’s behind the walls is standardized. That means that interfaces and connection details are standardized.

Watch Assembly's first building stack in a single day. Source: Assembly OSM.

Has applying manufacturing principles improved your ability to customize efficiently?

I think manufacturing generally leads to more standardization, but the tools that allow for manufacturing (eg. CATIA) allow for some interesting ways to enable customization. For example, CATIA is great for parametric design which means you can control interfaces, but change parameters to create “custom” products that are based on standardized details.

How do you balance allowing for customization while keeping delivery times reasonable?

It’s all about parallel processing. Each subassembly manufacturer is running a super-efficient process in parallel. This allows us to balance speed and customization.

Do you think customized and productized offsite construction can coexist in the market?

100%. Our goal is that our projects are completely indistinguishable from a conventionally built building, but there will be instances where a modular building or a conventional building will be more efficient.

Anything else you’d like to share?

We are in a really interesting moment for our industry. We have a massive housing crisis, a ticking clock to address climate change, and shifts in the labor market. This creates amazing tailwinds for new methods and it just takes a few players to completely change the industry.

Want to Learn More About Assembly OSM? Check out their Startup Profile below!

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