Architects using AI to design :Tim Fu from Zaha Hadid Architects

you know a lot of people argue that AI is the  end of creativity that you know if you're using   AI to create you are not using your own skills  and Imagination but using a computer generated   algorithm is defining your art and your design  different Theory office can only do Frank Gary   s design can only do zaha hadid's style design  that would be kind of a very dystopian world   where only big officers take ownership of their  own style uh the possible contribution virtual   review that I have is that machines don't need  permission to train from the image data set   because I feel it's the same way how photographers  don't really need permission from every architect   to take a photo of a city so hey Tim welcome  back to bless dark welcome back to the channel   the last time you were here we discussed so much  about AI and was just five months ago but I feel   like the world has changed completely in just  the last five months so welcome back and today   we're gonna discuss everything related to AI  that has evolved thank you super excited too   there's so much stuff to uncover at this point  yeah and even I mean I see you time and time   again just posting different things going to  different conferences and also posting about   how AI is is evolving using different techniques  and I want to tell the viewers today like in this   video we'll not only discuss AI we will not  only discuss uh theoretically what it means   and how what it would mean for the future how  we can use it but we're actually going to see   how Tim uses it in his design and he's gonna show  us a few things that can help us get started on   the AI Journey as well Tim I want to start with  discussing AI and you know it has developed so   much in the last few months today it is like  everywhere especially big Tech is completely   going after it in the architecture industry  do you see more and more designers start to   use AI in their art or in their design yeah I  mean it's quite prominent at this point I mean   um in terms of the practice our office Architects  you know we've all been encouraged since last year   to do some thorough Explorations with this  technology so on the research side we have a   lot of exploratory papers that we collate and we  collect for the office to test out methodologies   and understand certain Logics but then we also  have certain competitions that uh you know we   utilize AI to Aid in the concept design process so  I would say we are trying to be early adopters and   we are incorporating as much as possible to the  benefit of the career process although obviously   it's more on the front end I later have this when  you rationalize geometries and the manufacturing   and production and construction drawings that side  is still at the moment not touched by AI quite as   much yet so we're at missed a shift right now  potentially and we're just seeing how much this   technology is continuing to grow you know a lot of  people argue that AI is the end of creativity that   you know if you're using AI to create you are not  using your own skills and Imagination but using a   computer generated algorithm is defining your art  and your design what are your thoughts on that   yeah I mean there's some points to that and it's  quite nuanced uh for one I think it depends on   how much you leave the task for the machine right  so the first argument is I think there's a effort   level case so for example low effort uh prompting  you have some ideas quickly you put a bunch of   text in and then you generate the results and  you just take things as is so those are certain   conditions that have been presented and a lot of  people are obviously uh quite you know put off   by seeing low effort results but then you can't  dismiss the entirety of what I call this art form   of prompt crafting because there are those that  put High efforts so high effort meaning you spend   a lot of time from crafting understanding  the logic and of the algorithm but also to   um use your visual Acumen to curate the results  and much like a photographer would when he's   taking a photo and finally there are as designers  we have design ethos that we collected over the   course of our study and career so those things are  less tangible assets that we have that we actually   use when we are designing so those things guide  us in the criteria that we're trying to seek so   we do incorporate those things and that has been  the human element has been inputted when we are   iteratively trying to find a solution in the  you know vast space of possibilities that is   AI diffusion in this discussion there's also the  question that comes up about the ownership of the   design is it really yours if it's made by Ai and  also AI learns through other people's work so is   it just copying designs why do you stand on this  ownership argument right I mean this is a quite   a Hot Topic that's been debated especially art  community and we're in the design community so   there are some nuanced differences but I think we  have to unpack this into two separate questions   first of all is your design similar to existing  designs so I think that logic applies to same as   traditional design whereas how much do you create  and transform your design as opposed to how much   of the design actually represents another design  so if you were to design a Frank Gehry building   that's so similar to you know the Guggenheim you  know that will cause some problems people wouldn't   be happy to see that but if you take certain  elements of that as inspiration and you develop   something new then that's called transformative  right so you're creating something new out of   it so that's the logic that applies not just to  AI design applies to every sort of design right   how much we create have our own uniqueness in our  design and second point is does the act of using   AI constitute copying right because that's the act  of using AI is what's debated some people say that   it's like splicing different elements and putting  it together like stealing it but I think that's   kind of like an oversimplification of the logic um  as we know you know the algorithm learns patterns   and styles and that's really not something you can  copyright because imagine a world if you did if   Frank Gary office can only do Frank Gary as design  or our office I Hadid can only do zaha hadid style   design that would be kind of a very dystopian  world where only big offices take ownership of   their own Styles so I'm really afraid of that you  know lawmakers will ever make that to be the case   one day so I always speak against that the the  analogy that I like to use is um and our students   in a mango Museum if they are students I told the  art students to just study the different paintings   and then create something new out of it like maybe  paint a helicopter for example uh so in that case   is the creation the the helicopter painting and  the style of Van Gogh uh copyrightable by Van   Gogh Where's the copyrightable by the art student  now replace the art students with the machine and   replace a year with a few seconds everything else  stays the same the machine is learning like an art   student it's taking the styles the only problem  is is doing it a lot more efficient than humans   and so we have a problem when machines are more  efficient than us and therefore now we're worried   and certain laws may not be one to one you know so  I hope the lawmakers can continue to think about   this and make sure that we still have the artistic  and creative freedom and we're not going to start   copywriting everything all over the place uh the  possible contribution virtual view that I have is   that machines don't need permission to train from  the image data set because I feel it's the same   way how photographers don't really need permission  from every architect to take a photo of a city   because the results is clearly transformative  you're taking things from one medium and then   is setting it into another medium same thing with  AI art if you take even artwork from other people   and then you're creating something new out  of it it's going to be disassociated with it   yeah so same with design as well even more complex  with design because it's a different field and we   have design considerations you know what when  people also bring up the discussion to me I I   sort of my view is that uh I mean I understand  the larger point because AI is learning through   people's uh designs and data sets and that is  where it is taking its its primary Knowledge from   it and sort of creating new stuff but I also say  that is how also isn't it how human beings also   work is your your mind is basically a data set of  everything that you've seen throughout your life   it's it's a heap of impression and then using  that heap of impression you're sort of creating   whatever you create um I genuinely I mean it's  a belief that I have that whatever you create in   this world is not anything new is not completely  like brand new yeah yeah I mean that's why I say   kind of like human culture is a Continuum of yeah  one of each other's uh influence you know you   cannot have post-modernism without modernism and  without Renaissance or whatever Rogue everything   is a Continuum that has influenced each other  for us to reach the current point in time   and if you just say I'm gonna cut it off  here because machines started to do what   humans can do I'm gonna disallow the culture from  continuing for for us to be for this culture to   be taken by machines but sadly machines can  do it better than us at certain tasks now   and so the only thing a lot of lawmakers want to  do is try to do restrictive actions which I think   uh might be missing the bigger picture alright now  let's come to like your work specifically so how   are you incorporating AI into your design and at  what stage do you think AI is the most beneficial   in your work currently I just started to because  I also a lot of people do a lot of really   um crazy AI architecture so I wanted to see how  I can control it and do something more calm and   realistic so that's been my Approach from the  beginning to try to control the chaos so after a   while just putting independent buildings together  exploring the forms uh eventually things picked up   and I started teaching at PA and at that point I  started to really refine the tools that I use and   at some point I started to work on Interiors a lot  more explore spatial qualities and then products   as well this is when I also started to collaborate  with certain brands so for example I also   collaborated with the fashion brands Sprayground  and you know I'm very much inspired by how zaha   deed goes from architecture to Fashion product to  furniture and I think the AI has really empowered   me to do these collaborations with both fashion  companies as well as Furniture companies so like   this one is with the Italian handcrafted furniture  company mavimat and this will be made now right so   right now we're in the process of trying to to  um both projects were in the process of trying   to rationalize the geometry and then make it for  mass production so it's a lot of a lot of work   actually involved in the second half I think I got  the easiest part just by generating what I think   is the best imagery and the best design but then  trying to rationalize that is what I always say   is the is the Crux of the problem um same thing  with architecture all of these things it's easy   to create but it will be really interesting when  I go in through the the parametric design aspect   of trying to to generate the actual 3D geometry  so I mean what I also understand is AI especially   at this point where it is today can really help  you in the initial processes of imagining newer   spaces or let's say products or whatever designs  you want to and sort of playing with that and then   of course later the the same work of a designer of  an architect to actually uh you know when you want   to actually build things all of that training that  you have had as an architect as a designer would   come into picture it would be the initial step  using AI to sort of explore yeah yeah exactly   even the initial steps you're starting to think  about what's feasible as a design so even at the   initial step I think true Architects and designers  they know what to pick not just the pretty things   you can't do crazy crazy cantilevers if it's not  going to work so I think that background that we   have as our tech deck and designers is uh what's  going to help us Excel controlling AI as opposed   to people who are not Architects controlling AI  for example so it's really super powering us we're   the one that's really reaping the benefits but we  will continue to use our expertise to better make   use of this technology okay so could you give us  specific tools and and maybe show us and give us   a brief masterclass on how how one can incorporate  AI into their design workflow like you are doing   all right so um we divided into things like prom  crafting and iterative Design so with prompt   grafting it's also something that is very simple  but can be quite complex if you want to have a   finer control at it so for example what I always  showcase to students is don't just type in the   text you type in the text and you start Imagining  the results the local clusters of text what they   will prompt as images and imagining those images  merging for example here the text is a beautiful   bam flake HD photography glamping floating house  and all these texts generate it all together is   hard to imagine in your head but individually in  local clusters like such such you would imagine   what type of images comes out out of Google images  for example so I just tell people you got to place   the similar text together so that um you prompt  in exactly the things you're looking for and you   also want to go for more specific texts so that  way it's um the results are more controlled if   you go with more General text for example like the  word architecture that I always discourage people   to use it just generates too much uh craziness  because it's going to mix interior exterior   facades all sorts of things photography renders  so it's good to understand like what you can do   um with the more specific texts and uh of course  uh in parametric architecture Studio I also teach   how to think in the workflow in a more methodical  way uh with prom crafting you also have image   crafting sorry image prompting as well as text  and image prompting and even just choosing the   differences of your input have drastic results  that are different so therefore every single   decision I think has such an effect that you do  have to take into consideration because it's such   a simple process linearly but there are so many  choices that's given to us in the process so for   example a simple project like this as you see in  the final is quite different from the starting   point uh when you go through that process of prom  crafting you just add a text at a time and try to   understand the behavior so it is kind of like a  step-by-step process to find the right prompts   to generate the final images so here the final  images here is a final I'll settle problems that   I've did a lot of tests to basically try to see  what are the best text to generate exactly what   I was looking for so for example this project I  showcase how I go through with the starting point   being a bit uncontrolled kind of like a restaurant  uh hotel that has zahadeep style interior and I   wanted to have very well-controlled curvature  that I believe is you know aesthetic to me and   it's not the case initially so it takes time to  try to craft it towards what you're looking for   and this is just to Showcase uh how it ended  as a result so yeah this is the entire process   laid out of where I started and where I ended  starting from bottom right ending at the very   top left so you can see the the sort of amount  of iterative work that is necessary to get to   where you want and it can get quite time consuming  if you are really trying to push the boundaries   depending on your level of you know the the visual  quality and the design quality you're looking for   I always wanted to ask if you want to go from  like one iteration to the next do you are there   tools to help you just use that particular image  itself and then transform it or do you just start   from scratch again and okay yeah yeah so there's  actually two things right there's prom crafting   which is what I'm showcasing here which means I'm  literally seeking the correct prompt to generate   the results so everything you just saw here is  just all new generations and so that actually   is a good segue to the next point which is the  iterative design because error design is using   um The Prompt that you've already selected but  then evolving it and remixing it so that's also   a different approach and has its own sets of uh  techniques that I've developed over time this is   the old mid journey test P version but it's  interesting to show because this particular   one I didn't change the text prompt at all and  with the test P you were only given two results   but even with two results I'm able to just  select the result that I want and then shift   uh the design towards what I'm looking  for so I'm showcasing this because even   with such a limitation in decision making  just by giving you a or b you're still able   to incorporate a level of control just by  the meter selection of A and B kind of like   um Evolution really just over time selectively  breeding the correct solution the best solution   until he reaches what you believe is the final so  yeah that's an example of the old process that it   took in the otsp version you've been talking about  the workshop you take at parametric Academy as   well so do you want to tell us a little bit about  what happens there and what do you what do you   help students achieve in that Workshop yeah I mean  it's basically the type of stuff I'm showing here   but to more detail how to really control the AI  with small techniques that you do here and there   in order to achieve what you want there's so many  things that are collated over time both like from   the majority Community as well as from online and  also methods I develop myself so all these things   kind of as a nice package to give students idea to  how to quickly get better results faster and get   a more accurate result to what you're looking for  there's a lot of these students obviously try to   incorporate it to their design course or there are  even industry professional that takes my course as   well because they want to start incorporating it  for certain client needs and meet client demands   so that's why I try to teach intentionality  within this type of design instead of just   randomly creating good results we try to take  results that actually is has a specific demand   for these are the example from the last parametric  architecture course and you can see that these are   all students works I give them a specific client  demand such as you require some sort of hexagon   geometry that is a striking metal facade system  and there's a programmable office space and it's   basically I actually generated the prompts with  chai gbt I asked them to give me a client demand   so just with all these requirements I allow  them to explore themselves to see what they   can generate and it's really quite interesting  to see the vast differences between the students   right like some of my favorite ones are the  ones on the top and you can just compare there's   different ways to approach the design through my  journey there's different ways to approach the   the materiality the space configuration so it  has so much uh freedom for for personal input   and just from the results of my students I can see  also their skill levels vary quite differently and   therefore the results can vary quite differently  I have some students that constantly produce   absolutely amazing results each time and so I do I  will contribute that to their own talent and their   abilities if they constantly produce something  better it's kind of like when you're given a very   powerful technology there will still be people  that are going to be better at it and worse at   it so that's why I think the spectrum of human  involvement and the space that allows for human   creativity is absolutely present and I witness  it all the time when I see my students works if   anybody watching wants to check out the course by  Tim you can go to PA academy.com and and you can   find the course there I will also leave a link in  the description alright so I recently saw on your   profile you know you using a sketch to create a  final render through Ai and I've been seeing a   lot of these coming up could you talk about the  process how do you actually do it yeah I mean   this process is really interesting but also a bit  finicky so you know I always start with a lot of   just hand sketches and Pen sketches is a good way  to understand geometries and form I try my best to   generate ideas that are like higher level concept  as opposed to details and so that um you have like   an overarching kind of theme so that one it kind  of you can slowly produce into architectural image   so a lot of the stuff I've done that I showcased  as well is just by simple lines and Contours   um but at some point I started realizing that  just using Messier kind of ink painting actually   generates better results you kind of want the  messiness that grain and the strong colors so   at some point I started to realize that mid  Journey actually can take ink inputs better   than pencil sketch inputs and I think that's due  to its understanding the light and dark pixels as   areas more so than as lines and Contours so that's  why I just teach students to start sketching with   Shades if not use ink sketch uh this way I think  it's a lot easier to get the AI to understand it   more as a as a as an image so basically you're  still using mid journey to create these you're   inputting your image as a prompt yeah yeah  I'll actually go through the detail here I   know a lot of people use diffusion sorry a lot  of people use stable diffusion I know and they   use uh control net and that's giving you more  like accurate Contour control but uh the issue   is like the imagery is not as good as my journey  at the moment so I find ways to work around using   my journey even though it doesn't allow you to  evolve your exact input sketch here I try to   sketch a few options uh of a chair for example  and you also have to try to make it similar but   at the same time different so that the AI kind of  knows what a repeatable patterns in your sketch   and water patterns that can vary a bit so I tell  students to generate a few options and make them   generally similar but not same and once you have  few options you input that into the mid Journey   as image prompt purely image prompts so with that  you're able to start selecting the results that   most resembles your style right the most resembles  when you input it so here I selected this image   and you still can continue to evolve the image  towards closer to what you're looking for through   continuing to use your sketch prompt as well  as using other image problems so here I would   go through the process it's a bit painstaking  but start to incorporate photorealistic text   prompts and then photorealistic image prompts  so other Furniture renders or photos and then   at some point I start to take away the sketch  image so that it's kind of like uh you know   it's like the training wheels has been taken  off when it's able to take off by itself at   some point Your Design is more solidified you're  able to take away this sketch and it will still   continue and that's where you start to evolve  it into photorealistic image as you continue   the process at some point it would just all of  a sudden shift to a more photorealistic result   so here for example is the chair that I've done  at the 14th iteration which ended up being I think   the the best results as I continue evolving it  it also became very different but I think that's   also a good showcase uh to show you why it's also  like useful to do this type of process even though   it's also quite time consuming to get to what you  want at the moment but the immediacy of giving   you alternate design options right after you get  what you want is also very useful so that goes   with product design that goes with architecture if  you are able to achieve from sketch to render what   you're looking for you can also easily evolve your  design instantaneously and see Alternatives so I   think I'm hoping that this technology will  evolve to be a lot more streamlined but at   the moment this is my current Uh current current  process okay so I mean we saw how you incorporate   you know AI into your design process and what  sort of tools you use you know and you've also   seen as you were saying you were seeing people  around you also zh is also moving towards using   more AI at least on the research front and and  seeing what you can do with it what do you think   this would mean for few the future of designers  and let's say offices in the future yeah I mean   machines are always taking over more aspects of  our tasks it has been in the past and is obviously   continuing to do so so I think there's no point in  denying or fighting this progression of Technology   um while it's replacing some aspects of our  career it's also providing us more Avenues of   new ways to progress in our career potentially to  make better use of AI we have new field of study   New Field of design and architecture not even  within architecture any sort of career will be   affected by by AI one way or another because of  how powerful it has become uh I would just say   like we we shouldn't fight it because there were  those who fought AutoCAD when it came out right   um when you look back on that you you realize  that you should have been the early adopter to   AutoCAD and all these programs and during my  student years there were resistance against   Advanced computational tools um right now I'm  very professional in it because I was a really   involved with it and I have a lot of interest  towards it but you know the old Academia always   um a lot of the times would be more resistant  towards uh new technologies and things that are   a bit outside of their either their familiarity  or their understanding or their expertise   so you do understand their sense of doubts  with the new technologies and how that will   shift the discourse of design but as a  student I think as a young professional   I think we have all the incentives to continue  exploring new technologies especially if it's   as revolutionary as CAD software as revolutionary  as um AI I think it's a very important task for   all of us to see where this technology goes and  for us to be readily adaptable to the changes   that will happen because it's only going to  become more involved in our design process   and after that it's going to start becoming more  involved in the construction process as well   um I you know firmly believe that we will see  a lot more AI in the coming years and it's only   accelerating as we speak yeah thank you so much  for coming in and talking about all of it or   everything going on with AI right now which is a  lot at the moment we also have these big debates   about whether the government should stop you know  uh the research on AI or not there's a big thing   especially in the US going on right now and I  feel like we in a few months we'll be back here   doing the same interview but the tools would have  evolved so much that we would still be learning   about them so but thank you so much for taking out  the time today and you know showing us your work   yeah thanks rishab it's always a pleasure can't  wait to see what we talk about next time possibly   3D stuff that would be amazing to see like right  now I know there are certain AI tools that can do   3D but like of very basic things and they're also  pretty bad at the moment uh we're starting to see   like the birth of these things much like how  last year my journey was like you know version   one was super rough and then all of a sudden we're  looking at Absolute photorealism yeah and then now   with the video AI you know the text to video we  were laughing at very early results and right now   it's starting to uh become better and better and  it's taking the same trajectory as maturity was   so I'm sure that 3D applications at some point  will take that trajectory as well it's like an   absolute Moore's Law of exponential growth for  all sectors all right but thank you so much Tim   thank you for taking everything thanks a lot see  you around and that was it you guys that was my   interview with Tim Foo who's one of the Architects  pioneering and experimenting with the use of AI in   his work what did you think about the things we  discussed let me know your thoughts and opinions   in the comments below I will see you guys soon  with more such content until then bye bye foreign

Channel: BlessedArch

Views: 19,328

Keywords: AI FOR ARCHITECTS, AI IS ARCHITECTURE, AI, ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE, ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE ARCHITECTS, BLESSEDARC, ZHA AI, ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS AI, TIM FU, TIM FU ZHA, HOW CAN ARCHITECTS USE AI, YT:CC=ON

Id: kO0RzFcT080

Length: 31min 46sec (1906 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 13 2023