Generated by DALL-E 3

"You don't even have to do much, you show them raw and you can generate ideas with clients and within the team, because of light, shadow, geometry, coherency, the sense of gravity and order is so potent and the ideas are still striking." - Patrik Schumacher, Studio Principal of Zaha Hadid Architects

Disciplinary considerations of generative AI

Enhance visualisation: The use of generative AI in architecture and design helps to bridge the gap between ideas and visual representations by reducing the time and resources spent in developing digital mockups.
Copyright & attribution issues: images generated by AI models that have been trained on images of existing works might resemble them, which may pose plagiarism implications.
Authenticity: In developing creative works, documenting your ideation and design development process is important to emphasise the authenticity of your works.

Real-world examples of generative AI in the discipline

Frank Gehry is a world-renowned architect who created the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain in 1997, in which his team implemented generative design to develop form-breaking iterative forms using CATIA software and integrate materials use. Although not exactly AI-generated, this opened discussions on how computer-generated process could be leveraged into design and construction process.
Zaha Hadid Architects employ generative AI images into their architectural projects to enhance communications with clients using software like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney.
AI image software such as Midjourney, Stability AI, DeviantArt amongst many others have faced lawsuits from artists for violating copyright laws by training their models on vast image datasets without permission. This practice raises ethical and legal questions about the ownership and originality of generated visual contents, especially when the AI-generated images mimic the unique art style that the original artists have.
Queensland Symphony Orchestra used AI prompts to generate images for their social media ads. It was greatly criticised due to the poor use of generative tool, with glaring flaws in the output. This example exemplifies how AI-generated artworks have limitations depending on the prompts and dataset they're trained on, which leads to potential biases and inconsistencies in style and form.

Some prompts to help in the discipline

Suggesting ideas on themes or topics you can adopt in your design project
Generating images for examples on prompts to use to create AI-generated images on Adobe Firefly
Drafting presentations using generative AI tool to suggest presentation structure and layout
Assisting with creative problem solving and exploring connections between different disciplines and ideas
Exploring scenarios through guided case studies as a launchpad to real-world professional situations

Ensure you check out all the different ideas of how generative AI can support your learning.