#7 | 31.03.2024
The 3 main ways AI is already being utilized in the AEC
Reading time: 5 minutes.
TL;DR:
- I'm sharing the 3 main ways AI is already being used in the AEC.
- A few days ago, I had a webinar with BIM Pure on YouTube, seen by thousands of people.
- I plan to launch the course before the summer and I ask for patience and understanding as covering such a wide field is not an easy feat! 🙏
Dear Friends - Welcome to the 7th edition of the Mastering AI in AEC waitlist! (For earlier versions, please see the end of this email.)
Last week, I promised to share 3 main ways how AI is already being utilized within the AEC - and share some thoughts on what's to come.
So, let's get right into it:
1. AI for Design Studies
Image generation and rendering is something architects and designers welcomed wholeheartedly.
No wonder, given that the time it used to take to create a single render has been decimated. Moreover, AI is actually helping designers be more creative, by showing solutions that we ourselves might not even think of.
For an overview of this, you can take a look at this great video on how MVRDV is using AI for just that purpose.
In general, the main apps being used are:
- Midjourney (accessible directly through Discord)
- Stable Diffusion (usually accessed through Comfy UI)
- EvolveLAB VERAS (accessible directly through Revit)
- LookX (can integrate directly with Rhino and SketchUp)
- Corbu, Fenestra, Rendair (not as widely spread, but great for some use cases)
(In the upcoming course, I'll go in more depth on the main differences between these and how the architectural design workflow has been affected.)
On social media, it seems that AI images can be found all over - and given that e.g. Stable Diffusion is open source, I'm expecting to keep seeing more and more.
What I hope all these AI-generated images will help with is doing more design studies.
At BIG, we used to take weeks and months studying different designs - all the way from small details like handrail design to bigger picture stuff like building shapes or brick patterns.
Even though this took a lot of time and energy - I'm convinced that this is what made our architecture so unique and amazing!
My hope is that AI will allow more companies the bandwidth to study more designs - and that this will make our architectural designs in general more interesting, fun, and unique!
Who knows - maybe AI will spark a whole new architecture movement?
2. AI for Spatial Studies
Even though generative design has been around for a few years already, it's only now that we're seeing an uptick in actual use cases.
It seems to me that apps like Forma, Digital Blue Foam, Hektar by Parametric - and a bunch more in this category (named Design Development in the AEC AI Hub) - are great, but the low usage rate before 2023 is because they aren't exactly fitting in the way the majority of architects design buildings.
We usually start with a given plot and the building regulations on how much we can build - and then we listen to the requirements of our clients.
(At BIG, we also spent a lot of time researching the neighborhood, the city, anything around the site - to be able to craft a story of the building.)
Only after that do we actually think of shapes.
However, what these apps are crucial for in my opinion are the analyses.
We can now very quickly see how sun, wind, and even CO2 emissions change depending on different shapes and designs.
And I'm happy to witness that such insights so early on in the process make our architecture better for both the people and the environment!
3. AI as Your New Teammate
What allows me to grow my business quickly and be on so many fronts simultaneously are definitely LLMs accessible through apps like ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity.
I'm using LLMs for a lot of stuff - research, explaining concepts, finding examples - but the main reason why I love LLMs is because they allow me to have an unlimited number of interns - helping me act on things I know very little about.
For example, last week I needed to set up a contract with one of my new partner companies.
In the 'old days', I would need to find a lawyer, call them, explain, wait for a few days, check, send for a revision, wait again, and then I'd hopefully have a contract draft I'd be able to send to my partners for checking.
I can only imagine how much time and money this would take.
With ChatGPT, this whole process took me only 5 minutes.
I explained the situation: who I am, what I'm looking for, some rules I'd like to have, some rules the partners would like to have, and after a few back-and-forths - I had a great contract I put in a Google Doc and sent to my partners!
Is the contract perfect in a lawyer's eyes?
Probably not, but it's good enough to have been able to set up this partnership just in time for the BIM Pure episode I had 3 days ago.
In this case, the speed was crucial as I'm now able to offer discounts on the AI apps I'd recommend anyway!
You can check out the apps with discounts in this post on LinkedIn.
And LLMs can do so much more.
My main point is this:
You don't have to use AI for things you truly enjoy and are great at - but you will benefit immensely from using it for things you're not that good at, don't have time for, or just need a second opinion on.
I know many people use ChatGPT already for different purposes - but do reply to this email to share your favorite one!
These 3 are of course the main ways AI is already being used - but as you can see - we mentioned almost nothing for engineering, construction, and a bunch of other use cases in the AEC.
Don't worry - I plan to cover many AEC use cases in the course - one email is too short for that! 😅
Until next time:
- As mentioned above, this week I held a webinar with BIM Pure that's seen by more than 3100+ people on YouTube and counting!
For me, it was truly a dream come true and it's incredibly gratifying and humbling to know that so many people are interested and seeing the benefits of my work!
Thank you, truly, and I promise you that I'm working around the clock to bring more knowledge to you - both with the upcoming course but also with some other (still secret) projects. - I can now announce that I plan to launch the Mastering AI in AEC course before the summer. On a daily basis, I'm getting closer to the final plan for the launch, pricing, etc. - and actually creating the presentations and recording them.
This will be a pre-recorded course with long-term access to it and I will provide you with more details as time goes on. - With that said, all I ask from you is a bit of patience and understanding that covering such a wide topic comprehensively takes a lot of time, research, and work - and I'm truly doing my best to get there ASAP!
If you read this far - I wish a great Easter to all of you celebrating it and speak to you next weekend again!
Cheers,
Stjepan
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