AI and the Future of Architecture: What I Underestimated Was the Speed
I expected AI to disrupt jobs. I never assumed architects would be exempt. What I underestimated was the speed.
As an architect and CEO, I find this both exciting and uncomfortable. The opportunity to explore more possibilities with less manual effort is compelling. The implications for our people and our profession are harder to confront.
Architecture has always seemed resistant to automation. Every site is different. Every client brings a different brief, ambition and set of constraints. Understanding people, resolving competing demands and translating an idea into something buildable require empathy, technical knowledge and professional judgement.
Yet a unique building can still involve thousands of repetitive tasks.
Compiling documents, preparing submission packages, coordinating revisions, checking drawings and modifying models occupy a substantial part of our working day. Many of these activities are increasingly open to automation.
AI-assisted design tools are already helping teams generate and evaluate alternatives. As those capabilities develop, we must consider how they will change the economics of practice: the people a project needs, the fees clients will pay and the expertise they will value.
Could our role eventually concentrate on defining the brief, directing design and exercising professional judgement, while AI undertakes much of the production?
I do not know. But our responsibility cannot become a signature attached to work we no longer fully understand. We must remain capable of questioning, verifying and defending the decisions behind what gets built.
This also presents a difficult challenge for architectural education.
Much of our judgement develops through doing. Drawing a detail teaches us how materials meet. Coordinating a project reveals conflicts. Working through revisions teaches us why apparently simple decisions have consequences.
If these tasks become automated, how will the next generation gain the experience needed to exercise sound judgement?
Universities and practices will need to rethink how architects learn. Design fundamentals and construction knowledge remain essential, alongside the ability to direct AI, challenge its assumptions and assess its output.
As a CEO, I cannot wait for the future to become clear before preparing my team. We need to experiment, evaluate the results honestly and invest in the capabilities our people will need as the work changes.
I do not have a definitive answer to where architecture is heading. I intend to take an active part in shaping the practice we become.
For fellow architects, educators and business leaders: what should we change today to prepare the next generation for this profession?
Ar. Idr. Phang Mun Kien (MK), Founder & CEO, Ascendas Design Group
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