Katy Bradford was a Cohort 2021 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Office (BTO) Innovation in Buildings (IBUILD) Graduate Research Fellow. As a doctoral student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, she researches sustainable construction materials for 3D-printed housing. Katy is also a licensed structural engineer with more than five years of experience in the construction industry, including structural design, climate-specific architecture, envelope performance, building component manufacturability, construction product development, and building information modeling. She is passionate about simultaneously reducing the carbon footprint of building materials and improving the availability of affordable housing in the United States.
Represented Organization
Cassette Construction
Key Innovation
Cassette Construction manufactures low-cost, low-carbon wall and floor panels for modular construction using a custom offsite additive manufacturing process and material. The panels are made from bio-based material feedstocks sourced from rapidly growing plants and waste materials, making them carbon-negative while remaining cost-effective.
The Cassette Construction methodology significantly reduces on-site labor by up to 89% by consolidating field tasks and eliminating up to 70% of connections compared to standard wall assemblies. Offsite additive manufacturing enables rapid, precise panel fabrication, advancing efficiency, scalability, and sustainability in the building industry.
Target Market
Cassette Construction addresses two major challenges in the construction sector: sustainability and labor shortages. Building construction currently contributes 9% of global carbon emissions, equivalent to 3 billion tons of CO₂ annually, on par with emissions from all passenger cars worldwide. By offering carbon-negative panels, Cassette Construction targets developers and builders seeking to meet climate goals and reduce embodied carbon.
In parallel, the company serves the growing demand for affordable housing by mitigating skilled labor shortages, an urgent issue as 41% of the construction workforce is expected to retire by 2031. Within the $11.5 trillion global construction market, these efficiency and productivity gains represent an estimated $265 billion annual profit opportunity.
ORNL Principal Investigator
- Soydan Ozcan - Group Leader, Country, Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies, Energy Science and Technology Directorate