{"id":756725,"date":"2024-10-14T08:05:27","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T07:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=756725"},"modified":"2024-10-14T09:01:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T08:01:07","slug":"the-secret-architect-ai-take-the-wheel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/the-secret-architect-ai-take-the-wheel","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Architect: AI, take the wheel"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not easy being a director. Not me, obviously, can you imagine? But I do feel for should-jump-before-he-gets-pushed Founding Director #2. He\u2019s had a good run.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There was that government-funded infrastructure project that got some state-sanctioned nominations, then the pack-\u2019em-in-stack-\u2019em-high rabbit hutches over a new tube station which scraped through planning, and the masterplan in Slovenia \u2018or was it Slovakia?\u2019 that generated a nice dividend payment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But some winners just don\u2019t know when to quit. Now he\u2019s here, on our daily two-hour \u2018concept development\u2019 call, ruminating into the void about time lost and wishes spent.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re supposed to be talking about the layout options for a new mega-museum we\u2019re designing, but I\u2019ve zoned out for a minute. I suddenly remember my camera is on, broadcasting my thousand-yard stare to the 15 other assembled employees, equally baffled as to why we\u2019re still here, when we have to issue a progress report by 5pm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily, it\u2019s a Teams call, so I\u2019ve used my time to draft some drawings and views in Revit, done my Tesco shop, and redirected a couple of errant Part 1s who were trying to model Escher staircases in Rhino. Have a read through Part K and I\u2019ll answer all your questions at the end of the day. Another 40 minutes have passed, and FD#2 is still breathily musing into his Britney mic about exactly what it means to \u2018design\u2019 a space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s like telling someone you love them, isn\u2019t it, he proffers. You\u2019re never sure that you really, do, ever, love them. You know? I afford the group some silence to let that sink in, add a large bottle of whiskey to cart, and click next slide.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019ve said before that you won\u2019t catch me biting the hand that feeds. But I do wonder if this is the best use of our time. His bilge is clogging up the communal think-space, like all those Cold War satellites, lost in endless orbit, crashing into each other and showering us all with asbestos-adjacent shrapnel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the self-indulgence of the meta-narrative, talking about the idea of the work, while shirking the process of working itself. He\u2019s luxuriating in time we don\u2019t have. Time he will demand we \u2018make up\u2019 later, using \u2018tech\u2019 he doesn\u2019t understand to \u2018produce content\u2019 he won\u2019t read in the name of \u2018efficiency\u2019 he is directly undermining.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You see, AutoCAD didn\u2019t steal anyone\u2019s job, it enabled those same people to iterate more ideas without re-drawing everything from scratch. Revit doesn\u2019t co-ordinate design for you, it helps you find mistakes in your proposals, earlier. Enscape isn\u2019t designing space, it\u2019s just helping us share what we already had in mind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They\u2019re enhancements, not shortcuts. We still have to do our research, draw on our technical knowledge, listen to the intuition it took each of us decades to develop and decide what we want. What we like. What works. We still need to draft the idea, over and over again, until it\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

I wait for his next in-breath, before whispering that I\u2019m just conscious of time, and wondering if some plans, sections, 3Ds could be a good way to develop different options, for us to review with him on tomorrow\u2019s call? Maybe the team can take an option each (they already have), and put some slides together (done in the background) and send them over to you?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He perks up, adjusts his headset and booms into the microphone \u2013 well you can just put that through the AI can\u2019t you! Don\u2019t waste your time on drawing; just feed the machine with furniture and it\u2019ll crank out some options for you! Easy. No need to think!<\/p>\n

I sigh into the void where our meeting used to be and mentally troubleshoot how to put reins on this latest, dangerously stupid \u2018design tool\u2019. I need to draft a message, delicately suggesting that we stop shirking our one remaining design responsibility and revert to a more iterative process. I open ChatGPT and revel in the uniquely human irony that, in my war against the machine, I\u2019m about to let AI take the wheel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not easy being a director. Not me, obviously, can you imagine? But I do feel for should-jump-before-he-gets-pushed Founding Director #2. He\u2019s had a good run.\u00a0 There was that government-funded infrastructure project that got some state-sanctioned nominations, then the pack-\u2019em-in-stack-\u2019em-high rabbit hutches over a new tube station which scraped through planning, and the masterplan in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9844,"featured_media":756736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[745],"tags":[100464,101297,72352],"yoast_head":"\nThe Secret Architect: AI, take the wheel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Secret Architect is wondering whether the daily \u2018concept development\u2019 Teams call is time well spent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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