R&DOctober 20, 2016

The Birth of Anyplace — Proof of Concept

The first scaled Anyplace module, installed on site. The day the patent became a building.

After years of grinding through research, testing, and tough choices, we rolled up our sleeves and installed our first scaled module onsite. This wasn't just a prototype—it was the culmination of an insane amount of work, a deep dive into every detail that would define the Anyplace modular system.

2016 proof-of-concept floor skeleton — early aluminum frame laid out on workshop floor showing the base structural geometry — July 2016 — floor skeletonThe first scaled aluminum floor frame, laid out for assembly. The 4480 × 3430mm footprint that became the Anyplace standard.

We'd spent countless hours picking apart materials and methods. Low-carbon aluminum emerged as our hero—lightweight, recyclable, and tough enough to handle what we'd throw at it. But getting there meant wrestling with everything: welding techniques, extrusion quirks, machining precision, structural integrity, weathertightness, and how to integrate materials without losing the plot.

2016 workshop floor with proof-of-concept aluminum module being hand-built, parts and tools visible around the work area — July 2016 — workshop buildHand-built 10sqm unit. Every joint, every connection, every panel detail figured out by doing.

Then came the real head-scratchers: assembly pitfalls, modularity challenges, and making sure it could all survive transport. Each question answered sparked ten more, and every solution had to prove itself onsite.

2016 site installation — module being installed at its first deployment site, surrounded by trees and grass — July 2016 — site installOnce we went from workshop to install site we realized we had to do things 100% differently. The workshop build taught us what the system could be. The site install taught us what it had to become.

You could call this moment the birthplace of the Anyplace modular movement—a scrappy, aluminum-clad proof that we were onto something big. It wasn't perfect, but it was ours: a tangible step toward homes that adapt, endure, and leave the planet better off.

2018 proof-of-concept module at night, occupied — exterior glow from interior lighting, silhouettes visible inside — February 2018 — occupied at nightFrom floor skeleton to inhabited home in eighteen months. The lessons from the install drove the next iteration of the system.

Looking back, it's wild how much we didn't know we needed to know. Research filled binders, but the real lessons came from doing—hands dirty, module up, and eyes on the future. And even then, we were just getting started.

2018 proof-of-concept module in daytime occupation — fully finished exterior, deck and surroundings, demonstrating long-term liveability — September 2018 — in continuous occupationStill standing. Still occupied. Now ten years on, structurally intact — the longest live load test in the Anyplace record.

From this proof-of-concept came the realization that scaled production couldn't be done one workshop at a time. The path forward was decentralized industrialization — distributed manufacturing on existing aluminum extrusion infrastructure, not a single bespoke factory. That insight became the Hydro North America Technical and Economic Discovery Agreement, signed February 2026. The 2016 unit was the seed. The Hydro agreement is the tree.

The learning never stops when you're building something that matters.