Higher Education Director

Method Architecture named a finalist for the 2026 AEC Innovator Award. Method Architecture has been selected as a finalist for the 2026 AEC Innovator Award for Modus, its custom artificial intelligence platform built to make work more efficient, engaging, and human. The AEC Innovator Awards, hosted by KP Reddy Co. in partnership with Zweig Group, recognizes architecture, engineering, and construction firms creating meaningful change through technology, culture, collaboration, new business models, and forward-thinking practices. The program focuses on innovation that is practical, scalable, and capable of solving real challenges across the built environment. For Method, this recognition reinforces a belief that has guided its approach from the beginning: successful AI adoption is not simply about implementing new technology. It is about understanding your people, solving the problems they experience every day, and creating tools they genuinely want to use. Building an AI platform around people. Modus is Method's custom-built, firmwide AI platform. Rather than purchasing a standard tool and asking employees to adapt their workflows around it, Method Architecture began by listening. Team members at every level were asked about repetitive tasks, inefficient processes, quality-control challenges, and the administrative work that pulled their attention away from design, client service, and collaboration. Those conversations became the foundation for a growing collection of AI assistants and automations designed around the way its firm actually works. That people-first development process has helped Modus achieve an adoption rate of more than 85 percent across the firm. Instead of mandating its use, Method has introduced tools organically as specific needs emerge, allowing their value to drive adoption through experience and word of mouth. AI built to support culture, not replace it. Although Modus improves efficiency, it was never created as a strategy for replacing employees. Method measures the platform's return on investment primarily through time saved and capacity created. By automating repetitive work and reducing workflow friction, Modus is helping create the equivalent capacity of more than five additional full-time positions - time that can be redirected toward mentoring staff, serving clients, improving design quality, and supporting the firm's continued growth. The platform also reflects Method's culture. Modus has its own personality, branded assistants, customizable display settings, and intentionally playful features - including a "quack mode" filled with colorful animations. These elements may not improve productivity on paper, but they make the platform feel approachable and reinforce an important idea: innovation should make work better, not simply faster. As KP Reddy Co. observed in its recent profile of Method, the real success of Modus is not the software itself. It is the impact the platform has had on the people using it - reducing pressure, creating space for more meaningful work, and bringing greater enjoyment back into the workday. Creating better outcomes for its teams and clients. The benefits of Modus extend beyond internal operations. AI-assisted workflows are helping Method improve quality control, communicate design ideas more effectively, and produce visualizations earlier in the process. By reducing the time required to complete routine tasks, its architects and designers can focus more attention on the work that requires human judgment: understanding a client's goals, solving complex problems, building relationships, and translating ideas into meaningful spaces. That is the future of AI in architecture that Method is working toward - not technology replacing creativity, but technology creating more room for it. Public voting for the 2026 AEC Innovator Award is open through August 8, 2026. Winners will be recognized during the Elevate AEC Conference and M&A Symposium on September 30. Method Architecture is honored to see Modus recognized alongside other AEC firms working to move the industry forward. Thank you to its employees, partners, and collaborators who continue to test ideas, share feedback, and help Method Architecture build a smarter and more human-centered way of working. Additional articles. * Its Work

Tech veteran KP Reddy launches AI platform company to transform construction industry, secures backing of General Catalyst with $13.8M seed round. Zero RFI(TM) announces acquisitions of Brookwood Group, BuildingWorks, and KP Reddy Co. SAN FRANCISCO and ATLANTA, March 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Technology veteran KP Reddy announced the launch of Zero RFI, a new AI-native platform company purpose-built to modernize the construction industry at scale. Zero secured a $13.8 million seed investment led by General Catalyst. Zero aims to be a force multiplier, acquiring, building, and scaling aligned businesses, creating shared intelligence, common infrastructure, and compounding value. Zero's first acquisitions include Brookwood Group, BuildingWorks, and KP Reddy Co. The global construction industry manages approximately $10 trillion annually in capital projects, yet it remains the only major sector with declining productivity over the past 40 years. Construction continues to deliver buildings using methods fundamentally unchanged since the 1950s. Decades-old methods struggle to keep pace with rising costs, labor shortages, regulatory complexity, and overcome fragmentation. Today, with the application of practical, enterprise-ready AI technologies and people-powered expertise, Zero intends to reverse the trend, bringing clarity and confidence to high-stakes decision-making. Zero will focus initially on serving building owners and developers, those who shape projects at their earliest and most consequential stages, yet often operate with the least technology support. Zero is led by long-time tech industry innovator KP Reddy, the founder and General Partner of Shadow Ventures and CEO of KP Reddy Co. As a second-generation civil engineer with firsthand experience on construction sites, he is an authority on AEC (architecture, engineering and construction), AI, robotics and automation. His experience includes founding and exiting three technology companies to successful ventures. He is the author of three books: Creating the Intangible Enterprise, What You Know about Startups is Wrong, and BIM for Building Owners and Developers. A prolific speaker, KP also hosts the number one podcast for the AEC industry. Zero's seed round is led by General Catalyst, known for partnering with the world's most ambitious entrepreneurs with a long-term view for challenging the status quo, driving resilience and applied AI. "At General Catalyst, we partner with founders to transform foundational industries with AI," said Paul Kwan, Managing Director at General Catalyst. "Zero RFI extends our AI roll-up strategy into the physical economy, applying AI not just to software workflows, but to how critical infrastructure is constructed. KP brings decades of experience building and scaling companies in construction technology, and is exactly the kind of founder we look to back when reimagining industries at this scale." Zero's newly acquired companies include: * Brookwood Group, the pioneer in owner's representative services. As trusted advisors for the built environment since 1989, Brookwood is a recognized leader in innovative project delivery systems designed to reduce risk and increase certainty for owners. Brookwood has completed projects across the globe with aggregate project valuations exceeding billions of dollars. * BuildingWorks, the managed construction-closeout service provider. Using industry expertise and proprietary technology, the company streamlines documentation chaos to deliver operational compliance and asset value for the life of the building. * KP Reddy Co., the AEC industry's premier innovation advisory firm, helping enterprises benchmark their innovation capabilities and chart actionable paths toward digital transformation. KPRCo combines hands-on advisory with an ecosystem of over 70,000 newsletter subscribers, a globally recognized podcast, and a community of startups and enterprises to advance the built world. About Zero RFI Zero RFI is an AI-native platform company purpose-built to transform the construction industry. Zero removes friction, reduces uncertainty, and brings clarity to decision-making across the full lifecycle of the built world. Through a portfolio of mission-aligned companies, we help our partner companies do what they do best - lead, orchestrate, and protect - to safeguard the build process and their legacies for the long term. The company's name is rooted in a familiar industry concept: "zero RFI," or zero Requests for Information. It reflects a state in which project direction is so complete, coordinated, and unambiguous that no additional clarification is required - and a belief that clarity can emerge from complexity, and that the chaos long accepted in the built environment is not inevitable. For more: www.zero-rfi.com About General Catalyst General Catalyst is a global investment and transformation company that partners with the world's most ambitious entrepreneurs to drive resilience and applied AI. We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, meeting them where they are - from seed to growth stage and beyond. With offices in the U.S., Europe, and India, we have supported the growth of 800+ businesses, including Airbnb, Anduril, Anthropic, Applied Intuition, Commure, Glean, Gusto, Helsing, Hubspot, Kayak, Livongo, Mistral, Ramp, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, Sword, and Zepto. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com, @generalcatalyst Media Contact: Fran Weems [email protected] All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. TheTechOutlook.com takes no editorial responsibility for the same.