| December
17, 2025 |
Statement of Current & Future Research Interests
My research is organized through The Future of Design & Delivery (FoD&D), a long-term platform examining how architecture, engineering, and construction must change as building shifts from bespoke, Engineer-to-Order delivery to Configure-to-Order (CTO) production systems. This shift is not a single technical problem. It is a systemic transformation spanning law, digital infrastructure, manufacturing, education, sustainability, and governance.
FoD&D is structured around a clear theory of change. Its Modes framework traces the historical movement from service-based, Common-Law construction toward productized, interoperable, and marketplace-driven delivery, accounting for fabrication, assembly, and installation constraints. This framing allows individual projects to be understood not as isolated studies, but as coordinated steps within a larger transition.
Within this structure, the Research Roadmap targets the primary blockages to CTO adoption. Core projects include:
modular interoperability and interface standardization; legal transition from Common Law to the Uniform Commercial Code for modular goods; and the development of a Configurator File Type (a rule-native data format that allows products to describe their constraints, interfaces, and certifications in machine-readable form.
Additional projects extend this infrastructure into adjacent domains. These include automated building project delivery; embedded sustainability and carbon accounting within configuration workflows; performance-based health criteria for offsite product platforms; and uniform product data formats that reduce regulatory burden while maintaining oversight confidence. FoD&D also includes education-focused initiatives, most notably the creation of an offsite degree accrediting body (report) and the development of a degree specialized to U.S. offsite construction (draft degree map).
A defining feature of this research is its methodology. Each FoD&D project follows a consistent, consensus-oriented pathway:
1. Begin with extensive interviews of practitioners to surface detailed descriptions of industry constraints.
2. Draft collaborative whitepapers that articulate the core problem and outline a viable industry-wide solution.
3. Circulate maturing drafts of the whitepaper to invite wide circles of expert commentary, to refine assumptions, sharpen solution descriptions, and recruit collaborators.
4. Develop and post proto-grant materials that formalize scope, governance, timelines, and budgets.
5. Attract funding partners with these proto-grant materials, including philanthropy, family offices, impact investment, or governmental sources.
6. Perform the funded research, creating the IP, and piloting the solution with interdisciplinary teams drawn from these networks.
7. Publish open-source IP products (i.e. standards, file type definitions, curricula, and governance models) intended for broad industry adoption.
Across all projects, FoD&D moves beyond abstract research to apply and design shared systems that enable new forms of practice.
At many universities, this work aligns with an emphasis on practice-based research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and “making as a form of knowledge production.”
My future research will continue to advance the Future of Design & Delivery platform while engaging students and faculty across architecture, engineering, and allied disciplines to help shape the technical and institutional foundations of the built environment.