Last Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, I attended a symposium at UT Austin’s School of Architecture titled Architecture After AI. This is the topic of today’s post.
The campus/Austin is just a 1.5 hour drive from my house. Luckily the ice storm had passed, but the damage was still very evident. However, this prevented two speakers from making the event, but they were able to present remotely.
I heard there may be a recording of this event, so stay tuned for that! This is great, as the following post is mainly high-level highlights.
Description (official):
"As a complement to the "Architecture After AI" exhibition, this one-day symposium brings experts together to explore the potential of artificial intelligence platforms to revolutionize the field of architecture, from the way buildings are designed to the conception of new forms and structures that were previously unimaginable." Source
Panel 1: 10:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Moderated by Assistant Professor Ria Bravo, Associate Professor Kory Bieg, and Lecturer Rasa Navasaityte
Presenters:
- Andrew Kudless - Founder, Matsys Design; Professor, University of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
- Jenny Sabin - Principal, Jenny Sabin Studio; Associate Professor, Cornell AAP
- Ed Keller - Co-founder and Principal, AUM Studio and Spec.AE
Andrew Kudless started things out with a presentation called Hierarchies of Bias. I liked his comment about text to image being akin to hand skecthing... both are used to develop ideas and not particularly accurate.
Andrew has worked on projects with Lake|Flato, including Confluence Park. He showed some interesting AI-based text to image interpretations of the project, using a photo as a seed. Cool stuff!
Jenny Sabin presented on a project her studio worked on with Microsoft Research, titled Biosynthetic Architecture.
Ed Keller presented Distributed Cognition.
Panel 2: 2:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Moderated by Dean Michelle Addington, Associate Professor Clay Odom, and Assistant Professor Daniel Koehler
Presenters:
- Kyle Steinfeld - Associate Professor, Berkeley College of Environmental Design
- Marta Nowak - Founding Principal, AN.ONYMOUS; Assistant Professor, Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University
- Sofia Crespo - Artist; Co-founder, Entangled Others Studio
Kyle Steinfeld give a presentation on the recent history of AI. He pointed out that Machine Intelligence is a red herring, as it does not exist yet.
Marta Nowak shared some interesting projects she has worked on in a presentation titled Intelligent Workplace.
Sofia Crespo is an artist doing really interesting work using AI.
The campus is very nice… as is the neighborhood, fill with cool looking shops and cafes. Here are a few photos of the school.
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