25 April 2023 – 16:00-17:00 BST
In-person only. G4, Ground Floor, Mithras House, Lewes Road, Brighton, UK.
In this research conversations session, we hosted Brighton architecture alumni Lok Hang Cheung (Henrik), who is working on a PhD at XJTLU in China and will share some work on conversational AI in architectural design, and how this can be conceptualised in terms of tools, spaces, and design partnerships (see below). Henrik’s interests began during their undergraduate work at Brighton, and its a pleasure to have Henrik back with us for this seminar while they are visiting the UK.
Abstract
This presentation composes of two on-going projects. They explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used conversationally in the architecture discipline, under the context of what Paul Pangaro has termed “the pandemic of ‘today’s AI.'”
Project 1: Conversation between designers and AI as tools (AI art generation tool)
AI art generation tools have been commonly explored as rapid and high-quality image generators rather than design collaborators.
A collaborative and intuitive framework for the combined use of AI art generation tools in the architectural design process is proposed, facilitating immediate application by architectural designers with different levels of computational knowledge.
Project 2 (PhD): Conversation between (1) users and AI as space, and (2) designers and AI as design partner
The need for conversational architecture has been raised, but practice is under-experimented despite rapid technological advancement and solid foundation of Gordon Pask’s Conversation Theory.
First, this research explores the potential of applying the Large Language Model (LLM) to architectural design processes through verbal and non-verbal conversations, thus LLM acts as a design partner, instead of a passive question-answering programme.
Second, the workflow is integrated into a standard parametric design tool (Grasshopper), opening up opportunities for general use in a variety of scenarios.
