Architecture and interior design used to be designed from ideas created in our minds. How has AI become a tool and competitor in the architectural field?
Artificial intelligence is the newest player in the game of the digital world. With new programs being developed every day and resources for designers to use, it is inevitable that the field of architecture has been affected by this new technology. Many concerns over the integration of AI into various professional fields stem from the idea that these programs will take over countless jobs. However, what many people don’t realize is that with the introduction of these programs, professionals can use what the programs have to offer to not only improve their work but set them aside from others within their fields.
Having the knowledge of AI programs, particularly in the field of architecture, can improve the ways in which creative ideas are generated, providing a new source of inspiration and information from these programs. There are many image-generating programs available to designers, some of which can be plugged into architecture software or used as extensions on photo-editing applications. Each of these programs benefits architects and those involved in the design of spaces, providing them with new and innovative strategies to better their designs.
In terms of getting inspiration and finding specific elements of architecture designs from AI programs, here are three AI tools designers can use to improve their work and build their resumes with more skills:
- Adobe Firefly: Adobe Firefly is a generative machine learning model for design fields. The tools provided by the program include text to image generation, generative fill prompts, or creating graphics with Adobe Illustrator. Designers can specifically use Adobe Firefly’s text to image generator to input a prompt describing a particular style of building, setting to locate it in, or materials to display and create an inspiration image within seconds. For example, prompting the program to say “white stone house with a large porch, garden in the front, and sunset in the background” generated the four images seen below. With these images, architects have the opportunity to meet with clients and get a sense of their design goals, then generating these images quickly to come to a final design inspiration image.
- Decorify: Wayfair launched Decorify in July of 2023, creating a “virtual room styler powered by generative AI” (Wayfair). This program allows for interior designers to work with architects to input images of an existing room that they designed and add different styles of furniture to get an inspiration image. Users can pick between different styles and compare their existing room to the imagined space, creating a realistic image of the possibilities of Decorify’s designs. This program can also identify furniture generated within the image and compare it to Wayfair’s furniture and décor inventory, allowing for interior designers to find furniture that looks similar to their inspiration on Wayfair’s website.
- Google Lens: Although Google Lens is not specific to architecture, this program can be a great tool in finding specific furniture, materials, or general highlighted elements of design inspiration images. By inputting an image into Google Lens, users are able to search the image to find related things that look like the inputted image on the internet. This tool is similar to Decorify’s goal of finding similar items to those seen in the original image, but Google searches all over the internet to find related websites, images, videos, or other resources.
There is still concern that these programs can replace the creativity of architecture and interior design or these jobs altogether, however the likelihood of this issue occurring is low. To get ahead of the continued development of AI programs, it can be most helpful to the future of these fields to learn about different tools and skills that can be gained with AI, using its power to better both professionals and these fields overall.
Credit:
https://www.adobe.com/products/firefly.html
https://www.wayfairnext.com/decorify
ChatGPT was used to proofread this blog post.