Timo Carl, Renate Weissenböck, Carsten Rohde
https://doi.org/10.60152/0dojw0e9
Abstract: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping architectural design by opening new avenues for visual ideation while introducing conceptual and technical challenges that surpass traditional computational methods. Tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and StyleGAN facilitate rapid image generation, enabling intuitive exploration of form and atmosphere. Yet, scholars highlight that AI-generated imagery often tends toward superficial aesthetics, hyperrealism, and lack of spatial reasoning, raising concerns about its architectural substance. Therefore, it is indicated to employ a hybrid approach that enhances design ideation while maintaining architectural intentionality – offering a model for “architectural intelligence”. Based on these observations, we developed a pedagogical framework that addresses the aforementioned limitations while preserving the open-ended and exploratory nature of design. This was tested in an interdisciplinary design seminar, emphasizing iterative feedback loops and reflection in action, fostering conceptual thinking, critical assessment, and design agency. Aiming to develop a balance between control and creative discovery in the use of generative AI, the seminar brief intentionally omitted a predefined program and site. Instead, students explored human-AI co-design strategies across three architectural interconnected scales: urban (Constellation), building (Body), and material and texture (Surface). AI tools – including text-to-image and fine-tuning techniques – were interlaced with analog and digital media such as sketching, collaging, and 3D modelling.
Keywords: artificial intelligence in architecture; architectural design education; generative design tools; ai assisted ideation; pedagogical frameworks, hybrid design methodologies
How to cite this Paper (Harvard referencing style):
Carl, T., Weissenböck, R. and Rohde, C. (2025) ‘Into the Open: Towards an Educational Framework for AI-Assisted Design in Architecture‘, in R. Bogdanović (ed.) On Architecture — Crosscutting and Fusion of Disciplines, Proceedings. Belgrade, Serbia: STRAND, pp. 139–147.
See publication On Architecture (2025) Conference Proceedings