#AIArchitect Practicing Architecture

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Two weeks to go for the launch of the Neural Architecture exhibition and symposium! The exhibition features works by Daniel Bolojan, Immanuel Koh, Kyle Steinfeld, SPAN (Matias del Campo & Sandra Manninger), Foster + Partner, Ryan Vincent Manning, Kory Bieg, Rasa Navasaityte and AIAIAfrica. Lev Manovich will deliver a keynote Lecture on November 2nd at 5pm, followed by the exhibition reception. 7:00pm to 9:00pm at the Taubman College Liberty Annex, 305 W Liberty St, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, United States. Followed the next day by the Symposium in the commons of Taubman College, 2000 Bonisteel Blvd, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. (9am to 5pm) The Neural Architecture Exhibition at Taubman College presents itself as an opportunity to survey the emerging field of Architecture and Artificial Intelligence, and to reflect on the implications of a world increasingly entangled in questions of the agency, culture, and ethics of AI. This rapidly developing field of architectural inquiry is ripe for a rigorous interrogation. Almost daily, new practices emerge that focus on the incredible opportunities that an expanded human mind through AI offer for the discipline of architecture. The symposium oscillates between those poles of tension, in order to inform the public audience, and the discipline, about the status quo and the vision of this paradigm-changing new ecology of design. It is accompanied by a full day symposium on November 3rd. Speakers include Phil Bernstein (Yale), Catherine Griffiths (Taubman College), Sophia Brückner (Stamps), Chad Jenkins (Michigan Robotics), Immanuel Koh (SUTD), Sandra Manninger (NYIT), Benjamin Ennemoser (T A&M), Matias del Campo (Taubman College) and Kyle Steinfeld (UC Berkeley) Find more information here: https://neural-architecture.org/ #exhibition #symposium #artificialintelligence #artificial_intelligence #estrangement #defamiliarization #ostranenie #newparadigm #machinelearning #diffusion_model #neuralarchitecture #aiarchitects #posthuman #aiarchitecture #archinect #archilover #archdaily #midjourneyarchitecture #arch2o #midjourney #neural_architecture #taubman_college (at Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj36D5XDIwR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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TEXT: AIArchitect Practicing Architecture

The New Normal

The first in a three-part series on residential architecture in today’s economic climate.

Ownership and equity are about more than square footage in today’s home—they’re about design’s value and process, too.

By Camille LeFevre | Illustration: Mark McGinnis

Any architect who has been practicing for a while is well aware that the United States has sustained several economic recessions over the past 30 years. But aside from a few regional blips during the dot-com bust, the housing sector largely sailed through these downturns with homeowners’ equity intact. Then a perfect storm of factors—including low interest rates and unprecedented access to mortgage credit, booming home sales financed by mortgages bundled for sale to insatiable investors, and escalating home prices—created a bubble doomed to burst.

“The hype of equity was a classic bubble that assumed an upward value unrelated to the actual worth of the commodity,” explains Duo Dickinson, AIA, NCARB, CORA, principal of Duo Dickinson Architect, Madison, Conn. “For the first time in the history of world economics the cause of the recession was a building type: the American house.”

In the wake of the housing crash, followed by record unemployment and foreclosures, homeowners who kept their houses still lost tens of thousands of dollars in equity. According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, home prices are down more than 30 percent since their peak in 2006, and the housing data firm CoreLogic found that 11 million homeowners still owe more than their houses are worth. Finger-pointing continues as political pundits and economists sort out the causes.

Dickinson doesn’t hesitate to point to his own profession for a mea culpa. “To me, (the housing crash) was merely an ironic, extreme interpretation of how far architects have drifted away from any sensibility in the American consciousness that we have value,” says Dickinson, author of House on a Budget: Making Smart Choices to Build the Home You Want (American Institute of Architects, 2007) and Staying Put: Remodel Your House To Get the Home You Want (Taunton, 2011).

“Rather than talking to an architect about whether their house was really worth $257,000, home buyers talked to a real estate agent or mortgage broker,” he adds. “The truth is, that’s our fault, not the consumer’s fault. They have no concept that an architect will give them straight information about where their greatest liabilities are—the mortgage—and what their assets are. Until a few years ago, that net asset was a positive dollar amount between the mortgage and the house value. We have distanced ourselves as a profession from doing the dirty work of making our buildings account for cost.”

Today, clients for single-family residences do exist. They are savvy businesspeople who refrained during the boom and now have the money to build new or renovate while receiving more value on the dollar in a more competitive market. They are also homeowners who can’t sell or move up, but still have some equity or savings to renovate their homes. In short, they survived the crash with funds intact. “To an extent, all architects who do custom residential work are more or less dealing with people who are financially above the mean,” says Andrew Porth, AIA, LEED AP, principal of Porth Architects in Red Lodge, Mont. But even potential clients of means are, since the recession, stingier than ever with the dollars they spend. “Our clients have become more sensitive to the value of our services, what we bring to the design process, and what they’re going to build,” says Jean Rehkamp Larson, AIA, CORA, principal of Rehkamp Larson Architects, Minneapolis. “When dollars tighten, architects need to provide a good value and the leadership to take clients from here to there in an efficient way.” Carney Logan Burke Architects in Jackson Hole, Wyo., weathered the recession by creating a marketing plan to make the firm appealing to a broader array of clients, says Eric Logan, AIA, principal. The plan included self-publishing a hardcover survey of the firm’s work. Now that the firm’s busy again, he continues, “We’re hearing more from people that they have a very strict budget, and our contracts are scrutinized in a way they weren’t before. “We also can no longer ask for the fees we used to get,” he adds. “We go with this, as a business decision, to keep our clients happy, which means our work has to be done more efficiently if we’re going to remain solvent.” For Rehkamp Larson, the recession “tightened everything. It made leadership, clarity, and the design process more important.” For the first time, she’s also been asked to give away her time: A potential client suggested she complete a schematic design and compete against two other architects. She declined. “As residential architects, we sell our time and expertise,” Rehkamp Larson says. “Giving away our best skills and fundamental talents isn’t a sustainable way to run a practice.” Residential clients are expressing their new fiscal conservatism in other ways. One is the smaller footprint. “There’s been a scale shift,” Logan says. “More clients are saying, ‘I don’t need a 10,000-square-foot house. We can manage in a thoughtfully designed 4,500-square-foot house.’” The trend toward less square footage is borne out by NAHB’s recent “The New Home in 2015” survey. Responses indicate that space in the average new single-family home will decrease by almost 10 percent from the average size of single-family homes started in the first three quarters of 2010—to about 2,152 square feet—by the middle of the decade. Greener features ranked at the top of the trend list as well. Homeowners are also choosing to stay put. “The percentage of clients looking at options to stay within an existing home has increased,” says Rehkamp Larson. According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, the remodeling market will recover from its 12 percent drop between 2007 and 2009, and expenditures will increase at an inflation-adjusted average annual rate of 3.5 percent between 2010 and 2015. Many potential clients still face roadblocks to financing a new or remodeled home. “Buyers are now being asked to come up with a 20 percent down payment,” explains Porth. “A whole of raft of potential buyers has been blindsided by this renewed requirement.” For architects, an ongoing challenge is to convince “appraisers and lenders that there’s value in architectural design,” Porth says. “Managing to get even the cost of our services incorporated into an appraisal or a loan is tough.” Nonetheless, residential architects and their clients remain steadfast in their belief that “good design adds value,” says Rehkamp Larson. “That was true before the recession and is true after the recession.” As clients shift toward smaller square footages and remodeling existing homes, “That idea of value, of making sure you’re spending your money on the things you care about, is as important as ever.”

To learn more about sustaining your business with supplemental design services, visit aia.org/practicing.

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AI & Architecture lecture and debate. I'm very much looking forward to speaking tomorrow in person at the Public Conference Artificial Intelligence Challenges & Opportunities in Architecture in Brussels, Belgium. Follow the conference here: https://gene-electra.zoom.us/j/83802586626 From the conference page: On 24 November 2022, in Brussels, the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE) is organising a public conference to explore challenges, threats, and opportunities raised by Artificial Intelligence in the sector and consider how it could change Architecture and the practice of the architectural profession. This conference, which is meant to nurture a study commissioned by the ACE on the very same topic, will bring together AI experts, architects, and research- ers who will: - Explain how they perceive the AI impact on the practice of the profession; - Share experiences, good practice and innovative solutions; - Present their perspectives for the future of the profession; - Share thoughts on the possible regulation of AI in the architectural sector. More details here: https://tinyurl.com/myajd4a7 #neural_architecture #aiarchitecture #midjourneyart #midjourney #diffusionmodels #newparadigm #machinelearning #diffusion_model #disco_difussion #stablediffusion #aiarchitects #posthuman #postdigital #architecture #architecturedesign #ontology #epistemology #aiapplications (at Brussels, Belgium) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClUTCp8s6Ki/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Are you curious for a deep dive into AI and Architecture? Would you like to peek behind the curtain of the current discourse regarding the ethical, practical and cultural implications of using Artificial Intelligence in design? Sig up now for the free streaming of the Neural Architecture Symposium! Register here: https://umich.formstack.com/forms/neural_architecture_symposium Participants include: Phil Bernstein (Yale), Sophia Brueckner (STAMPS), Chad Jenkins (Michigan Robotics), Catherine Griffiths (Taubman College), Kyle Steinfeld (UC Berkeley), Daniel Bolojan (FAU), Sandra Manninger (NYIT), Benjamin Ennemoser (Texas A&M) and Immanuel Koh (SUTD) Keynote Lecture by Lev Manovich (Nov. 2nd) followed by the opening of the exhibition "Neural Architecture" at the Taubman College Liberty Annex. In case you are present in person, join us also for a tour of the new Ford Robotics Building on north campus, including the Robot Garden, one of the first built examples in Architecture that made extensive use of AI design methods. (Nov. 3rd) #posthuman #postdigital #architecture #architecturedesign #ontology #epistemology #aiarchitecture #AI #neural_architecture #estrangement #defamiliarization #ostranenie #newparadigm #machinelearning #diffusion_model #midjourney #midjourneyart #midjourneyarchitecture #stablediffusion #aiarchitects #sublime #exhibition #symposium (at Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkReu-Puh9f/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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Yesterday was the closing event of the exhibition "ON AIR: Faculty Work 2020-2022" of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan. I'm happy I had the chance to showcase some of SPAN's AI driven work from recent years. The Robot Garden for the new Ford Robotics building on the north campus of the University of Michigan was on show. The first project using various AI methods that actually got built. We also showed the Generali Center project at the Mariahilferstraße in Vienna, Austria. The exhibition was planned and curated by the amazing Prof. Kathy Velikov! More than 60 stellar examples of inspiration and innovation including research, professional practice projects, publications, and other creative works are on full display in a new exhibition of Taubman Faculty work from the past two years. Taubman College faculty are internationally recognized educators, researchers, and practitioners who embrace experimentation and innovation as a vehicle for engagement and change. With an experimental mindset, they seek alternatives and are driven by a desire to imagine and reimagine the future of the built environment as they explore how different disciplines, styles, and philosophies can inspire and improve our world and society. Los Angeles trapped in a glass cube. Architecture & Artificial Intelligence #exhibition #generative_adversarial_networks #neural_architecture #neuralarchitecture #artificialintelligence #artificial_intelligence #estrangement #defamiliarization #ostranenie #newparadigm #machinelearning #shklovsky #SigmundFreud #bertoldbrecht #authorship #RolandBarthes #michelfoucault #stablediffusion #aiarchitects #posthuman #aiarchitecture #archinect #archilover #archdaily #arch2o (at Ann Arbor, Michigan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiNwtf5OUfA/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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In the ongoing series Roofs, Basements and the MIddle - today: The Middle. Observed through the lens of a Difussion Model and particularly focusing on interiors. As stated previously, the series is based on a quote about Lars Lerup dividing architects into three distinctive tribes: "Lars Lerup divides the thinking and the works of architects into three categories and compares it to a building. There are architects who are primarily occupied with the basement. Here, from an Austrian standpoint, Raimund Abraham is mentioned. There are architects who are primarily occupied with the central structure of the building. Rem Koolhaas comes to my mind. And there are architects who deal with the roof as utopia [such as Coop Himmelblau]. Hans Hollein claimed all three categories for himself." Alessandro Melis, quoting Wolf D. Prix in "The Introduction of Nature in the Austrian Radicals Practice" On another note: The interplay of --quality and --stylize can really drive the ball out of the park in terms of possibilities in Midjourney. It allows a bandwidth between "fairly realistic" to "utterly maddening estrangement." To that extent, it is an instant Surrealism machine when used accordingly. I'm really curious to see how it will change the "Sehgewohnheiten" of the larger audience of arts and architecture. #midjourney #MidjourneyAI #midjourneyart #neural_architecture #neuralarchitecture #artificialintelligence #artificial_intelligence #estrangement #defamiliarization #ostranenie #newparadigm #machinelearning #deeplearning #neuralnetworks #aiarchitecture #aiarchitects #posthuman #postdigital #architecture #architecturedesign #ontology #epistemology #vienna #house #GregorMendel #inheritence_rule #archdaily #archinect (at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/CgmSnVeuE0e/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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I'm very much looking forward to speaking in the upcoming "Parametric Architecture - COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN: NEXT 10" event, taking place July 16th and 17th. I will be speaking about the imprint of AI on human culture and the ontological trajectory of a posthuman design ecology. Illustrated by some of the recent, AI-driven designs of my practice SPAN. #midjourney #MidjourneyAI #midjourneyart #neural_architecture #neuralarchitecture #artificialintelligence #artificial_intelligence #estrangement #defamiliarization #ostranenie #newparadigm #machinelearning #deeplearning #neuralnetworks #aiarchitecture #aiarchitects #posthuman #postdigital #architecture #architecturedesign (at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf7VuAUuVAV/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=