“A great idea, a great concept, and I think it would revolutionize part of the industry…They’re the only people I know that are thinking about it this way. And it can only be a positive, especially for rural communities where it’s really difficult to find staff or subcontractors.”
Challenge
Otak is a sustainable engineering company in Portland, Oregon with a mission to transform how communities are planned, designed, built, and experienced. Founded in 1981, Otak has a strong and talented team that includes architects, engineers, landscape architects, planners, project managers, surveyors, and urban designers. Otak partnered with Quantum Assembly to collaborate on high-capacity multi-family sites in Portland, where there is an urgent need for attainable housing.
Solution
Quantum Assembly is working with Otak to revolutionize the process of building Portland’s new multifamily units through sustainable and scalable automated assembly. Quantum Assembly’s innovations help fulfill a city-wide plan to fast-track housing construction, deliver durable and high-quality housing units, drastically reduce construction costs, and finally provide a solution to Portland’s pervasive homelessness and housing crisis.
Results
Matthew Neish, Otak’s Residential Studio Leader, was instantly impressed by Quantum Assembly from the first meeting he had with the team. “They’re a fun group to work with,” he says, describing Quantum Assembly as “innovators” who are going to “revolutionize part of the industry.”
Neish is particularly excited about finding ways to use Quantum Assembly’s concepts across housing types. “Both in workforce housing and in student housing, I honestly want to try to figure out how to reuse some of their products that they’re using in regular housing, affordable housing,” he says. “Apartment turn is a big cost to developers, and the materials that [Quantum is] using, especially for the walls, is pretty much bulletproof. Not having to repaint a unit every time they turn it over is huge long-term cost savings.”
Portland residents and people around the world are now seeing the results of Quantum Assembly’s vision in our successful collaboration with Otak. Together, we’re creating durable, high-quality, attainable options that give Portland hope through sustainable housing.
