Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising a plethora of industries and the architecture industry is no exception.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the ability to analyze vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and automate complex tasks; and as a result it is increasingly being used to enhance efficiency, improve design processes, and shape the future of architecture.
AI will continue to evolve and become more sophisticated, enabling architects to tackle complex design challenges with greater efficiency. With advancements in machine learning and computer vision, AI may be able to simulate human perception and preferences more accurately, leading to more personalized and user-centric designs. Furthermore, as AI algorithms become more adept at processing and interpreting big data, architects will have access to a wealth of information that can inform their design decisions.
However, as AI becomes more prevalent in the architecture industry, there are certain considerations that need to be addressed. Ethical concerns, such as privacy and security, need to be carefully managed to ensure the responsible use of AI. Additionally, the role of architects may evolve, and it will be crucial for professionals to adapt and collaborate effectively with AI systems, leveraging their capabilities while still providing the human touch and creativity that defines architectural design.
Over the next decade, AI is expected to have a significant impact on the industry. However, by embracing AI technologies responsibly, architects can unlock new possibilities and create a built environment that is more efficient, sustainable, and responsive to the needs of individuals and communities.
With this in mind, we asked a panel of architects how they are embracing AI and what impact they believe it will have on the industry over the next decade.
BLAKE & AHN, STUDIO WEAVE
“When we were asked about how Studio Weave is embracing AI, the most honest answer is that we all use it every single day – in fact everybody does most days, through the wildly powerful computer in your pocket. Predictive texts or Google maps are architect’s tools, just as much as a pencil is. So the question is really, if we look forward to the new wave of AI tools, how can we see them being deployed in the design and construction process. Well, we know that they will add to our arsenal, but probably not in the ways that you might immediately think.
Architecture has been very slow at integrating new technologies. While we are digitally creating original forms and modelling complex systems, we also depend on a person up a ladder, laying bricks and mortar in a way that a mediaeval artisan would recognize – “The future is here, it’s just equally distributed.”
Technology makes people uneasy, it always has done. What we are is, to some extent, defined by what we do – so at every step of technological progress, as some of our tasks have been automated, humans have had to adjust what we think of ourselves. In the Greece of Homer and Hesiod in C7-8th B.C, there were debates about the merits of writing down laws. While it definitely makes laws easier to remember, does writing and encoding the law remove the vital human aspect of holding embedded knowledge and deploying interpretation as required to make true justice?
After many iterations of writing technology, moveable type printing arrived. Like in all transitional moments, the superseded technology lingers; scribes persisted long after printed books. Even today, a very high status document like a certificate, will be hand signed in ink. The humanity of the signatory gives the document its gravity.
The technology of oral transmission, then writing, set us on this path, via print, then digitization, to the precipice of AI. At Studio Weave we still essentially use all the steps on this path in the production of architecture. We talk, we write and sketch by hand, we print out (not often), we make digital models and experiment in Stable Diffusion and Midjourney.
With some notable exceptions, architecture is a late adopter – this is true for the vast majority of the discipline. This stems from many causes – the length of training, the length of the construction process and the way construction is inevitably embedded in politics and perhaps most importantly the political economy of the production of space. i.e. it is often cheaper to get a human to do the job than it is to get a machine.
But AI promises more. The current focus of the AI discourse has been in the arena of visual rendering, however where AI can be a useful active agent in architecture right now is essentially invisible – In supply chains, specifications or system analysis. One obvious improvement that has started to appear in architecture offices is tessellation programs. If AI can do Tetris for the architect, fitting together awkward shapes, allowing an area schedule to tessellate neatly on site, then we welcome it. This would give us more time to think about people.
Integrating AI, so it comes as easy as using the pencil, will be the challenge for retaining the personality in our design, like hand signing a certificate or interpreting a written law. In a way, maybe we should never have written down the law to retain some of our fallible humanity, but we are pretty pleased that we took that early step along this path! At Studio Weave we embrace the humanity while getting excited about the potential for the next bold technological step.”
www.studioweave.com | IG: @studioweave
DAVE MOYES, PARTNER, SIMPSONHAUGH
“As a practice, we endeavour to stay at the forefront of the technology and tools that will not only enhance our work, but will revolutionise the industry too. In much the same way that the PC changed everything for architecture, the potential for AI is unlimited. But, I believe the industry is focusing on the wrong areas.
While architecture has shown a great capability to be flexible and adapt to new tools, it’s important to collaborate across industries for the best results. In a recent report – “The rise of AI: A threat or opportunity for architects?”- compiled by Serif, developers of Affinity creative software, I spoke about the challenges and opportunities AI poses for architects.
With the growing use of AI and the speed of change we need to adapt quickly. The pace of the change and keeping up with it may be one of the biggest issues the industry has to face, and I believe there may only be a five-year window to embrace the transition in working methods.
As the technology develops, traditional architects will become the guardians of the profession. The use of AI is exciting and the possibilities of what can be achieved boundless. However, there also needs to be oversight from those with real world experience and practicality. It will still need the human element to make the built assets of the future feel relatable at a human scale.
It is easy to be fascinated by the creative potential of AI, with the generative text and text-to-image capabilities allowing advanced conceptual design work to be completed and refined in a fraction of the time. But I don’t see this as the greatest benefit.
AI should improve the decisions made by design teams in terms of design assets for the built environment that are more suited to their context. For example, developments in material technology, combined with AI, could enhance the way we choose materials for a project. Architectural teams that consider more innovative products and design solutions not only assists with elements such as the environmental sustainability of an asset, but also the holistic life cycle sustainability of the finished design.
Beyond these benefits, are those that are more subtle and blend seamlessly into everyday life. Administrative jobs including backing up, collating, and filing documents, and communications for a project, can happen behind the scenes as we work and will save architects time.
Everything being clearly laid out, stored away correctly and consistently is something that can go astray in any company where different teams interact – which causes delays. Solving this problem doesn’t mean projects are completed faster, but instead, those working on them can dedicate the time they want and need into the project, instead of squaring up to paper-trails.
AI presents a significant opportunity for the profession to evolve. As with any “big new thing” there is the potential for friction around what the expectations and realities of these changes are. How will client and social expectations develop? What happens with the different contracts and fee structures? What will be the effect on human resources to deliver a project and also the wider support team aiding in the delivery?
These collaborations will be vital to ensure that all industries can make the most of advancements. Architecture practices themselves will need to remain agile, and develop a culture of embracing new workflows and digital change that delivers tangible benefits to the industry and society at large.”
www.simpsonhaugh.com | IG: @simpsonhaugh_architects
TOMAS ROSSANT AIA, PARTNER, AND ALAN CATION, DIRECTOR OF COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN, ENNEAD
“With every significant technological innovation comes a spate of anxieties, promises, and speculations. It is either framed as the beginning of something new, or the end of something known. Confident prognostications abound.
We are not prognosticators. We are architects practicing at the intersection of design and strategy, operating at a time when the business model of our profession faces serious economic challenges, and the landscape of how we work seems poised to change. Enter Artificial Intelligence and an explosion of tools now at our disposal with equally as many questions as to what they might mean for the future of our industry, if not humanity at large. Is this the end or the beginning?
AI is not new to architecture. As a profession, we have been able to utilize machine learning and genetic algorithms for the past two decades to solve specific kinds of design performance and optimization problems. This has always required some degree of advanced, specialized knowledge in computational design. What is new now is the sudden ubiquity of these AI models to be used by almost anyone with access to a computer, significantly lowering the barrier of entry to harness the power of complex computational workflows. Whether one views that with excitement or alarm, it is a reality that requires our attention, and we would argue, affirms the importance of our expertise when leveraging this technology. Images are not buildings. To synthesize any new medium into what we broadly understand as architecture still requires the full knowledge and expertise of architects to technically realize the built environment.
We are skeptical of early calls that AI will outsource our profession. And at Ennead we have no intention of outsourcing our design culture to AI. Instead, we see the inherent possibilities of AI as an expansion of our creative palette. As the technology develops, we are just as quickly experimenting with new ways of working. Our designers use AI to test and sketch ideas, augmenting our creative practice to arrive at important conceptual conclusions faster and with more contextual breadth. As a quick visualization tool AI can render full scenes, letting us evaluate ideas more rapidly and reach the best possible design outcome sooner.
We are in the process of training new models on our proprietary data using existing large language model (LLM) APIs and diffusion models to develop our own Ennead-specific queries to generate both text and imagery. We are leveraging LLMs to help designers and specialists code in our design platforms to establish automated workflows faster than before. It assists our computation specialists as they develop bespoke software tools for project-specific needs to the benefit of our teams and our clients.
As we aim to employ AI in selective ways to streamline workflows and increase the efficiency of our processes, thereby allowing us more time for R&D and ambitious design exploration, we do so very cautiously, following a thorough assessment of risk. We have developed ever-evolving internal protocols for the appropriate use of AI to protect the security of our data and our intellectual property, as well as the security of our clients and end users. Our caution extends to the information AI provides. We are having conversations across the practice about the potential for bias in AI and how essential it is for us to have a broader cultural understanding when engaging with these tools.
At Ennead, in our 65-year history we have always been early adopters of new building technologies, digital software, fabrication methodologies, and project delivery models. Our success as a design practice has depended on our approach to change. We meet it with mindfulness and openness, and through the lens of our firm’s ethos – design for civic good. And this is how we are engaging with the new frontier of AI, which we are optimistic will deliver significant and productive change to our industry, changing the balance of work to allow for more time spent on critical problem solving. Never have there been such an array of tools in the hands of the architect. We feel that if AI is deployed correctly and ethically, with security and rigor, we will be able to work more efficiently to design and deliver buildings that are ever more impactful at addressing the great problems facing humanity. Perhaps in the end AI will prove to be a tool to raise the value proposition of the architect.”
