From the T-Square to A.I.

My Reflections

     Over the last five decades, I have witnessed quite a change in the methods and tools we use to create architectural plans. During my time in undergraduate college, we would only use a T-square and a right triangle. When you look at old pictures of an architect’s office, like Frank Lloyd Wright’s, you see dozens of people using these tools. I thought I was really moving up in the world when I purchased an adjustable triangle. During this time, I built myself a drafting table using tube steel and particle board. I even made it adjustable with some bolts in the table legs so I could make the top angled or flat. I still have this table in my current architectural office. After a few years I added a parallel bar. This was wonderful at the time because, if it was installed properly, it would always remain at the same angle as you moved it up and down the board vertically over your drawing paper.        

My original T-Square, Triangle, and other drafting supplies.

Earlier versions of AutoCAD

     My first introduction to CAD was in the early 1980s. I was working in a firm with about 100 people in Dallas. In the middle of the large drafting room there were about 6 desks behind some cubicle walls that had the overhead lights dimmed over their small area. I was informed that these workers were “drawing” using computers. They were using computer assisted drafting (CAD) to create architectural plans. I thought to myself…” WOW that is really going to be the wave of the future”. I was correct.

     My personal use of CAD came when I started my own small firm in 1985. I had some limited experience with CAD by watching other people use it in our firm. When I started doing the planning and drafting myself, I acquired a CAD program. I learned to draw using it in a self-taught format. I eventually had about 2-3 people working for me preparing architectural plans. I would use hand drawing and sketching to design the projects. Then, my assistants and I would create actual construction plans using CAD. I used this method in my design firm for decades. This type of CAD was mainly a 2D style of drawing system.

Watercolor Painting of Retail Project, 2008

     I remember the moment very well when I first gazed upon a 3D color rendering of a building. This was about the mid 2000’s. My first thought was this is what I had envisioned when I looked over the shoulders of those first few CAD operators in Dallas in 1982. The early 3D renderings were crude by the current renderings we see today, but they were a wonder at the time. I commissioned my first computer rendering in 2008. I had hired a watercolor painting artist to do a rendering of a new retail center we had designed. That client was not pleased with the quality because he had seen some computer renderings online. From that point forward, I have always used 3D color renderings in the design process and service agreements.

Computer Render of Retail Project, 2008

     In 2010, I started to explore REVIT drawing software. REVIT was the cutting-edge drawing program that used a 3D approach to build a computer model of the building that fully integrates all the construction elements. At that time, I employed a very bright UTA graduate intern. He took to using the 3D drafting program very quickly. With REVIT you could “draw” a 3D model of the building that included all the wall systems, ceiling systems, window elements, structural system and MEP systems incorporated into the model. As my small firm progressed, we used REVIT for 90% of our production on the architectural plans. We only used 2D CAD for site plans. Our firm still uses both methods to produce our design development plans and the construction document plans.  

Examples of REVIT’s workflow, allowing for 2D wall section details and 3D modeling work being done simultaneously.

     So now the latest new wave of technology for almost everything is Artificial Intelligence. Our firm has started using this technology in some of our architectural design work.  On one project  we used it to assist in the design of the building elevations.  After some meetings with the clients on their vision for the exterior facades, I created a hand sketch version of a front elevation showing the basic elements and proportions of the building. Our team then scanned this sketch. We then inserted that scanned sketch into an AI program named Midjourney. The AI program created about 5 different versions of a front elevation using parameters that we programmed into the system. We presented these possible elevation concepts to the owners in the next design review. After the selection of the most appealing elevation concept, this elevation was used to develop the REVIT model of the building. The remainder of the construction plans were completed in REVIT. The project is now under construction.   

Conceptual A.I. Elevation generated from a handmade sketch, 2024.

Finalized Project Elevation Renders, 2024.

     So, what will these new technologies look like in a few years and beyond? Looking into the future can be more than a risky business, but I predict that AI use will continue to expand greatly over the next 5 -10 years. I envision computer systems utilizing AI programs dedicated to architecture and engineering tasks will be utilized heavily. The design and completion of the construction plans will happen with very little human assistance.  An architect or engineer will always need to program a “vision” and the “projects parameters”.  They will also need to review and make changes just as we do today during the design process. However, the actual generation of the construction plans will take place within the computer program. All coordination will be completed by the AI program. The project’s set of specifications would also be generated by the AI program.

     We have come a long way from my days of drawing with a T-square and a right triangle. We have witnessed the birth of the computer and the programs that operate on them.  This “Information Age” revolution will be looked back upon by people in 200 years as a watershed moment in time. We look back on the Renaissance in Europe and the Industrial Age in America in a similar manner today.  I see these AI developments in the architecture and engineering professions only growing. They will become even more impactful in the way they change the design and drawing process. The AI programs will also change the architecture itself in form, function and materials. A new architectural style will develop that can only be created using AI.