This year, the Center for Offsite Construction (CfOC) exhibited at HUD’s 2026 Innovative Housing Showcase, with a tent on the National Mall. Our goal was simple: show visitors what it takes to make offsite construction work at scale, and start conversations with the people who can help make it happen.

Our posters made the case in short lines. “Offsite construction moved work indoors. It didn’t make an industry.” “No coordination. No problem.” “Buildings don’t come with a parts list.” “Every manufacturer has a catalog. None of them fit.” Each one points to the same gap: the industry has factories, but not the shared standards that let parts from different manufacturers fit together.

That gap is where our work sits. Our boards covered the CTO file type, a single digital file that describes a building so it can be configured, checked, and built without re-entering data. They also covered Configurator software, which automates the matching of components, and our work on modular interface standards through CfOC/ICC 1220. A monitor on the table showed a 3D model, and sample modules let visitors see the kinds of connections we are standardizing.

Jason Van Nest (Executive Director), Mike Nolan (BIM/VDC Fellow), and Kyle Gilham (2026-27 Senior Research Fellow) staffed the tent and talked with visitors from across the housing and construction community. The most useful conversations were the ones that started with a question about a specific project and ended with a question about standards.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by. If you missed us, we would like to hear from you. Tell us what your project needs to fit together, and we will bring it to the standards table.