The Center for Offsite Construction at NYIT is pleased to welcome Eddie Palka as a Senior Research Fellow for the 2025 academic year. With a background that bridges architectural practice, modular innovation, and housing research, Eddie brings a wealth of expertise to the Center’s ongoing mission to advance industrialized construction methods and offsite solutions.

Eddie is currently an Associate Research Scholar at the Housing Lab at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation (GSAPP), where his work explores policy and design strategies to expand housing affordability and communicate complex spatial issues to diverse audiences. Until recently, he was also Project Director at Assembly OSM, a modular design-build company pioneering high-rise multifamily construction using advanced digital workflows and offsite manufacturing. At Assembly, he led the firm’s first modular projects in New York, including a Passive House-certified high-rise and the first residential project in the state to receive WELL for Residential certification.

A licensed architect with over a decade of professional experience, Eddie previously worked at SHoP Architects and has contributed to a wide range of projects including U.S. embassies, tech campuses, mixed-use masterplans, and residential towers. His research and writing span historical and contemporary impediments to modular adoption in the U.S., and he has presented at conferences including ACSA/AIA Intersections and the Construction History Society of America.

Eddie holds a Master of Architecture degree from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of Minnesota.

Through his fellowship at NY Tech, Eddie will focus on the intersections of policy, building technology, and modular delivery, exploring how design, regulation, and market structure must evolve to unlock the full potential of offsite construction.

We look forward to his contributions and collaboration with students, faculty, and industry partners in the coming year.