About the Center
A permanent home for building technology and the people who run it
A regional initiative of H&H Development Group and Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning.
We can’t build our way out of the housing crisis with the tools that created it.
The DC–Baltimore region is short on attainable homes and on the skilled workers to build them. The Center is permanent institutional infrastructure — not a pilot — that puts modular, printed and robotic construction to work, and trains people from the communities that need housing most to run it.
A region where every family has access to a quality, affordable home — built faster, smarter, and more sustainably by a diverse, technologically skilled workforce rooted in our communities.
Mission
- 1Accelerate adoption of transformative AI- and robotics-driven construction technologies: VMC, 3D printing and panelized systems.
- 2Train a diverse, community-rooted skilled-trades workforce in those technologies.
- 3Serve as the region’s policy, research and demonstration hub for innovation in real estate development.
- Average DC-metro construction cost per unit
- $350K+
- Construction workers needed nationally by 2030
- 2M+
- Skilled-trades workforce gap, DC–Baltimore region
- 35%
Genevieve Hanson
Founder & CEO, H&H Development Group
Co-Chair, Strategic Advisory Board, Morgan State University School of Architecture + Planning
Anchored at Morgan State University
Morgan State brings accredited programs in architecture, planning, engineering and construction management, research capacity for applied work, and a commitment to workforce development in underserved communities. Community colleges and trade schools remain partners in scope.
H&H Development Group: Founding Sponsor
Founded in 2004 by Genevieve Hanson, H&H is a Washington, DC-based developer and advisor in affordable and mixed-income housing, historic rehabilitation and innovative construction delivery, with more than $6.5 billion in assets managed, developed or advised. H&H contributes the founding vision, live pipeline projects as training sites, government funding partnerships and preferred hiring for graduates.
Certifications that open public procurement
H&H’s set-aside statuses extend contracting access to the Center and its graduates.
Federal WOSBSBA Woman-Owned Small Business
Maryland MBEMDOT MBE, DBE, SBE certified
DC CBECertified Business Enterprise
Prince George’s CountyLocation-Based Business- SWAMVirginia SWAMSmall, Women- and Minority-owned (pending)
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses
Amazon Housing Accelerator Fellowship
Join as a founding partner
Universities, agencies, foundations, technology companies and community organizations each bring something the Center can’t do alone.
Procurement certifications
H&H’s set-aside statuses open government-funded contracting to the Center and its graduates.
- Federal WOSB
- DC CBE
- Maryland MBE
- Prince George’s County Location-Based Business
- Virginia SWAM (pending)
- Universities & colleges
- Host facility, accreditation, research, student pipeline
- Community colleges
- Pre-apprenticeship pathways and transfer articulation
- Department of Labor / Employment Services
- Co-fund apprenticeships, employer tax credits
- Department of Commerce
- Business attraction and economic development
- Housing finance agencies
- Project referrals and gap financing priority
- Planning & economic development offices
- Zoning reform, VMC pilots, surplus property
- Housing & community development departments
- RFP integration, site access, co-funding
- Homeless services departments
- Project referrals and demo site access
- HUD & federal agencies
- NOFO funding, capacity building, CDFI grants
- Economic development organizations
- Site facilitation and innovation-zone incentives
- Neighborhood organizations
- Community hiring and pre-apprenticeship referrals
- Technology & construction industry
- In-kind equipment, curriculum advice, placements
- Philanthropic foundations
- Endowment, program support, capacity grants
Inside the Center
Innovation lab: facade prototyping, mobile robots and live operations dashboards(concept rendering) Collaboration floor: full-scale mock-ups beside design studios(concept rendering) Development intelligence: digital twins of live projects(concept rendering) Site tour with industry partners Learning on an active job site The Center’s public face: a plaza where visitors see robotics at work(concept rendering)