Redefining design in the age of AI
About two and a half years ago, I promised myself that I’d start writing a series on Brunch - and I did.
Well… two posts, to be exact. Then I stopped. (Blame my chronic laziness :) )
A lot has changed since then.
My work, my tools, my way of thinking - even my title at work. (That part, I’ll admit, feels nice.)
Back then, the intersection between architecture and IT was just coming into view.
Now, I work right in the middle of it.
Recently I revisited those old posts, and the very first one started with a question:
“Will AI make architects disappear?”
My conclusion at the time was simple:
AI won’t replace architects.
It might reduce the number of people who draw,
but it will increase the number of people who design systems.
In other words, architects wouldn’t vanish - they’d evolve.
What struck me reading that old post again was how curious I already was about AI -
long before ChatGPT and generative tools became part of daily work life.
Back then, AI felt like “the future.”
Now, it’s just another window open on my desktop.
Yet my perspective has changed.
The conclusion remains the same - but the reasoning behind it doesn’t.
Two years ago, I said “Architects won’t disappear.”
Today, I realize that wasn’t really about AI at all.
If anything, AI is already deeply embedded in what architects do.
The real barrier isn’t technology
it’s the system around it: slow-moving institutions, rigid bureaucracy,
and the mindset of people who still believe innovation threatens stability.
For the architecture industry to truly evolve,
it’s not the tools that must change first,
but the rules and the way people think.
AI isn’t a threat to architects;
it’s an amplifier of their ability.
Architects are no longer just drawing buildings -
they’re designing systems, experiences, and flows of information.
We’re shifting from an era of construction
to an era of producing spaces through data and technology.
AI doesn’t erase architects.
It redefines what the word “architect” means.
These days, I use AI in almost every part of my work:
ChatGPT for ideation, image generators for visualization,
data tools for analysis and feasibility studies.
And the more I use it, the more I realize -
AI’s efficiency depends less on the tool,
and more on the depth of human experience behind it.
A junior designer might take AI’s answer as truth.
A seasoned one reshapes that answer through context.
Experience gives meaning to output.
So I no longer see AI as a replacement -
but as an Extender.
For me, AI has become a collaborator -
another version of myself working alongside me.
Sometimes faster. Sometimes more precise.
But always learning from the original.
My next goal?
To clone that “second self” again -
not to let AI take my place,
but to let it expand me.
The age of AI won’t erase architects.
It will only change how we work - and who we become in the process.
And as I continue exploring this intersection of design, data, and technology,
I find myself returning to a simple truth:
The future of architecture isn’t built by architects alone.
Now, architecture is built by IT.