Phil Bernstein is an architect, technologist and The advent of machine MACHINE ARCHITECTURE IN THE AGE OF

Associate Dean and Professor Adjunct at the Yale

School of Architecture, where he has been a member learning-based AI systems LEARNING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
of the faculty since 1988. Prior to his current
full-time role at Yale he was a vice president at
demands that our industry
Autodesk, where he helped develop and execute the does not just share toys,
company strategy that resulted in Building Information
Modelling. Previously in practice, he was a principal but builds a new sandbox
at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. He is the author
of Architecture Design Data: Practice Competency in
in which to play with them.
the Era of Computation and co-author of Building (In)
the Future: Recasting Labor in Architecture and Goat
The profession is changing. A new era is rapidly
Rodeo: Practicing Built Environments. He writes,
approaching when artificial intelligence will augment
lectures and consults extensively on the implications
the work of architects, making the design process faster,
of technology on architectural practice, and is a
better coordinated, more accurate and rooted in data.
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
The danger, however, is that, without a clear strategy
to direct new technologies, they will encroach on the

EN
difficult and ambiguous work of architects – to the
detriment of the profession and the built environment.

Leading architectural technologist Phil Bernstein provides

IM
that strategy. Divided into three key sections – Process,
Relationships and Results – Machine Learning lays out an
approach for anticipating, understanding and managing

EC
a world in which computers often augment, but may well
supplant, knowledge workers like architects. Armed with
this insight, the profession can take full advantage of
the new technologies to future-proof its business.

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Features chapters on:

Professionalism
Tools and technologies
Laws, policy and risk
Delivery, means and methods
Creating, consuming and curating data
Value propositions and business models.

ISBN 97819-1-412-401-3

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ii MACHINE LEARNING

EN
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© Phil Bernstein, 2022 Commissioning Editor: Clare Holloway

Published by RIBA Publishing, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD Assistant Editor: Scarlet Furness
ISBN 978 1 91412 401 3 Production: Richard Blackburn
The right of Phil Bernstein to be identified as the Author of this Work Interiors designed and typeset by Studio Kalinka
has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Printed and bound by TJ Books, Cornwall
Patents Act 1988 sections 77 and 78.
Cover design: The First 47
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by While every effort has been made to check the accuracy and quality
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or of the information given in this publication, neither the Author nor
otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner. the Publisher accept any responsibility for the subsequent use of
this information, for any errors or omissions that it may contain, or
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data for any misunderstandings arising from it.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

W hen RIBA reached out to ask whether I might be interested in writing a

book about the implications of artificial intelligence for the architecture
profession, I was surprised to learn that another far-better known pundit
(who shall remain unnamed) had declined a similar offer; apparently, the
prospects, to him, were simply too dire. However, as the science-fiction writer
William Gibson, of The Difference Engine fame, is purported to have said, ‘the
future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed’. Such is the case with the
emergent technologies of AI, which lives on the smartphones (and thereby

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
in the pockets) of the same architects who will be made redundant by our
erstwhile robotic overlords.

EN
What I did not realise as I started the project was that it would require me
to return to my computational roots from decades ago, when I was an
IM
undergraduate student of an iconoclastic young professor at Yale, Roger
Schank, who had some of the earliest foundational ideas for teaching
computers to understand language. During my graduate studies, computing
EC

was emergent but largely unacknowledged, and my instructor at the time,

Bob Frew, indulged my interest in using early computers (which were hardly
up to any useful graphic task) for project management. Late in my final
graduate year while on vacation in California, my uncle Edward Bernstein,
SP

always one to have the latest gadget, gave me a week with his brand-new
Apple II Plus, on which was a new piece of software called VisiCalc, the first
spreadsheet. Suddenly, numeric modelling no longer required hard coding
and I surprised Bob with a finished project right after the holiday. Two years
later in San Francisco, the architect Herb McLaughlin sent me several times to
Palo Alto, to research a new technology called ‘expert systems’, a provocative
but otherwise completely unrealisable technology. Around the same time, I
bought his firm’s first personal computer – not for generating drawings, but
to manage schedules and fee proposals. Computing to generate forms and
images, I came to realise, is irresistible, but digital tools have just as much, if
not more, agency in architectural process outside of design itself.

After a dozen years in mainstream practice with César Pelli and his managing
partner, Fred Clarke, I joined Autodesk as a vice-president, and established
there many of the relationships in the technology world that I maintain today.
Jim Lynch, now a senior vice-president, is a close friend, sounding board and

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iv MACHINE LEARNING

source of much help and insight from the company. Sam Omans, now an
industry manager with Autodesk’s Architecture/Engineering/Construction
business (and likely one of the few folks working in tech with a PhD in
architectural theory) has helped clarify ideas, locate information with the
Autodesk labyrinth and chase down critical images that illuminate the text.
Grace Liu, from the Autodesk Intellectual Property team, was invaluable in
completing all the necessary image permissions there.

My thinking about the current state of AI technology owes a debt to

Mark Greaves of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who has also
contributed the Foreword. During autumn 2020 I often met Mark, Steve
McConnell of NBBJ and the writer Cliff Pearson via Zoom. Our regular AI
salons, as we called them, replete with just a splash of scotch, did much to

EN
clarify for me what can be the daunting trajectory of the development of

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intelligent machines.

Here at Yale today I came to rely on our able architectural librarian in the Hass
IM
Arts Library, Tess Colwell, without whom I would have been unable to navigate
the university’s vast, but often opaque, resources. Dean Deborah Berke has
been unfailingly supportive as I laboured to complete the manuscript while
EC

we steered the School of Architecture through the global pandemic. And my

editors at RIBA Publishing – Clare Holloway, Scarlet Furness, Liz Webster,
Richard Blackburn and Ramona Lamport – are exemplars of professionalism
and patience, particularly with my peripatetic schedule. Clare was not fazed a
SP

bit when I asked for my long-time friend and collaborator, the editor Andreas
Müller, to pitch in as an additional set of eyes on the project. Andreas, who
edited my last manuscript, offered regular, clear and very useful advice to
improve both the flow and logic of the argument.

A final note of thanks to my partner Nancy Alexander, who always creates

the space in which to do important work and the reminders for why it is so
important to stick to it. Without her unending support, none of these projects
would ever be possible.

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v

FOREWORD

W hen I first started working with Phil, I held the one-dimensional impression
of architecture that he mentions early in the book: architecture as a
discipline that translates desire and capital into occupiable space. Although
truthful and concise, this formulation makes it disturbingly easy for computer
scientists like me to view architects as people who mechanically execute a
semi-formal translation function. It took several Zoom-mediated and whiskey-
lubricated discussions of architecture and AI for Phil and his patient colleagues to
gently disabuse me of this blinkered and reductionist view.

EN
The change in my own conception of architecture is not unlike the recent and
dramatic evolution of AI, which is why this book is so timely for both of our
professions. In the last decade, AI has rapidly advanced from meticulously
authored rule systems to the staggeringly complex world of deep learning
IM
networks and self-supervised methods. Instead of relying on collections of
intricate rules manually programmed for specific tasks, modern machine learning
systems now base their outputs on impenetrably complex patterns that result
EC

from automatically analysing massive data sets. AI-generated design, which was
once mostly an academic exercise in combining rules in different ways, can now
produce creations that are far more subtle and compelling.
SP

The need to reflect on architecture in the age of AI is therefore much more

acute than it was even five years ago. Although machine learning will not make
professional architects obsolete, neither will it have zero impact. The combination
of Phil’s deep knowledge of the architectural profession and substantial AI chops
allows him to investigate the space between these two extremes and explore
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how modern AI can affect the intricate information structures that underlie
the delivery of a constructed building. Phil also grapples with the elephant in
the room: can AI ever adequately comprehend the deeply human context of
places, replicate the architect’s unique blend of formalism and creativity, and be
responsible for the safety and fitness of a building? To address this, Phil’s analysis
goes beyond the usual reductionist critique and considers how modern AI could
not only make the overall value chain of architecture faster or more efficient,
but also result in a stronger architectural profession overall. I find this book
tremendously thought-provoking, and I hope you do as well.

Mark Greaves, Mercer Island, WA

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vi MACHINE LEARNING

INTRODUCTION

A lmost half a century ago I was an undergraduate-aspiring-architect

studying at a school where the design studio was reserved for the elders
while the rest of us fulfilled our general requirements. An early interest
in computers had led me to a lower-level course called ‘Introduction to
Computer Graphics’, where, according to the syllabus, we were to spend the
first three drab weeks programming oscilloscopes to draw circles; exercises in
early computer-aided design (CAD) on the first graphic displays – which were,
of course, about 6 in wide, as seen in Figure 0.1.

EN
Deciding that slog was not for me, I stumbled upon an exotic class in the
same department called ‘Natural Language Processing’, where, apparently,
we were going to teach computers to understand English. Our avuncular – if
prickly – professor, Roger Schank, explained that he had uncovered one of
IM
the fundamental aspects of human existence by discovering the structure of
language understanding encoded within the mind. Our job was to translate
that theory into computer code. Of course, we were doing so on a 16-bit
EC

predecessor of the IBM PC called a PDP-11/45, with a whopping 256 kilobytes

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of main memory. One afternoon, in the computer lab, with ten or more of us
working on the system, it burst into flames.1
SP

0.1:
A CATHODE RAY
OSCILLOSCOPE,
C. 1996, NOT
MUCH CHANGED
FROM ITS 1975
PREDECESSOR
(COURTESY
OF MAKEHAVEN
INC.)

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INTRODUCTION vii

0.2:
AN EARLIER
VERSION OF
THE PDP-11
COMPUTER,
NOT ON FIRE 2

EN
IM
EC
SP

My project for the semester was to write a program that would accept input
from what was then called a ‘newswire’ – a text streaming service derived from
teletype that delivered news from national sources – about the particular topic
of oil tanker crashes and resulting spills, and then answer simple questions
about the same. Our solutions essentially ‘hard-coded’ the extraction of
meaning from English sentences and built semantic structures from which
the machine could perform what we thought was inferential reasoning, all
based on the thesis that we were digitising the thought processes also used by
humans. My solution, while adequate, was no early version of Google. It also
became clear by the end of the term that my days in the computer science
department were numbered, as the professor correctly observed that my
particular solution could not differentiate between a tanker accident and a car
crash. I beat a rapid retreat to the entirely analogue architecture curriculum
the next semester.
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viii MACHINE LEARNING

Like my early academic experience, architects have always had an ambivalent

relationship with computation. In the early days of computer-aided design,
we worried that the ancient art of drawing would be lost.3 As the industry
transitioned in the 2010s to 3D digital representation, and particularly building
information modelling (BIM), anxieties increased that tools would diminish
the designer’s authorial agency when digital building components became
standardised and dispensed with ease into our designs by increasingly
powerful tools. Now that computation has become ubiquitous and machines
are learning to perform knowledge work through artificial intelligence, the
profession believes itself once again under threat. While the University of
Oxford’s Richard and Daniel Susskind, exploring the implications of artificial
intelligence on the work of professionals, have suggested that ‘we will neither
need nor want professionals to work in the way that they did in the twentieth

EN
century and before’,4 there is very little computational intelligence impinging
on the practice of architecture today. Yet we worry. Are we headed to a world
where computers largely replace architects altogether? Surely there are
reasons that this will not be the case?
IM
Here is one example. When computers design buildings, the public will lose
out. Why? Because when an architect imagines a building, it is from its base
EC

upwards. What you see is an imagined image of what is being created from bottom
to top. A real building shows us a holistic structure that starts from the very
foundations and works all the way to the top, from foundation to roof, and so on.
If we do not know the foundations of the building, we do not know what we are
SP

being sold, and we will not understand what we are looking at. The bottom line is
that there is little or no aesthetic value in a building that has no soul, and so the
negative view of digital architecture is not justified.

Why? Because when architect imagines a building, it is from its base upwards.
What you see is an imagined image of what is being created from bottom to top.
A real building shows us a holistic structure that starts from the very foundations
and works all the way to the top, from roof to foundation and so on. If we don’t
know the foundations of the building, we don’t know what we’re being sold, and
we won’t understand what we’re looking at. The bottom line is that there is little or
no aesthetic value in a building that has no soul and so the negative view of digital
architecture is not justified.

I see two reasons why digital architecture is lacking aesthetics. First, it is solely
a technical process. If you try to make the process of creating a building into
something beautiful, a lot of work will go into that, and you won’t save much in
time. And second, digital architecture uses software as the sole element in the
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INTRODUCTION ix

building process, which we know is unreliable. Software is so far from being easy
to understand, we wouldn’t even recognise it as software. We can’t see a word of
the message it’s trying to send. So, it’s not easy to tell from looking at a building
whether it was designed by a computer or not. The work of design is not something
we can simply throw into the computer and have it turn out like a BMW.

Digital architects try to make the process of creating buildings into something
beautiful, but ultimately they don’t deliver. There are other issues with digital
architecture. To make the building more “real”, you need software to manipulate
the material the building will be made from. In the past, materials were never
digitally designed, so when a digital architect took the material out of a computer,
the software had no idea how to work with it, and the result was a “coffin” with
“free” space at the base. Digital architecture only takes you to the model first, and

EN
once it’s built, it will only keep it in the model, and create something completely
different with it. Digital architecture can give you better clarity, but at the cost of
aesthetic. It has never produced anything that looks like a real building.
IM
Here’s hoping, dear reader, that you’re still with me after that brief italicised
diversion, which was generated entirely (and unedited by me) with a
technology called GPT-3, the third generation of what is called a Generative
EC

Pre-Trained Transformer, an artificial intelligence (AI) system that conjures

original text in response to a prompt, which in this case was ‘(w)hen
computers design buildings, the public will lose out’.5 GPT-3 is my oil tanker
program run in reverse – instead of merely absorbing a narrative to somehow
SP

understand, it creates one. It runs on computers orders of magnitude more

powerful that were programmed by much more talented people.

The sample output above has an uncanny similarity to coherent English, the
broad framework of an ‘original’ argument and even cites concrete examples.
It has the maddening quality of bare intelligibility, as the more you think you
understand it, the more obscure it becomes. GPT-3 technology is the current
generation of machine intelligence that ‘learns’ language by ingesting huge
amounts of text from the internet and ‘teaches’ itself underlying semantic
structures. This is the same strategy that the mostly reliable Google Translate
uses to translate a web page from English to Spanish, but greatly accelerated
by rapidly advancing machine learning (ML). Yet both my early effort and that
of GPT-3, above, lack real coherence, and the more time spent reading the
text above, the less sense it seems to make. GPT-3 is certainly a more efficient
approach than mine of 1976, but without the sweeping philosophical assertions.

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x MACHINE LEARNING

Yet, the possibilities here are intriguing. Could a computer design an entire
building well? The computer scientist, Mark Greaves, who contributed the
Foreword to this book, describes the advances in natural language generation
with tools like GPT-3 as having ‘fluency and expressivity’:

>> Using modern ML techniques, machines are starting to successfully

perform creative, original tasks in domains like language that were
once uniquely the realm of humans. There have certainly been limited
achievements based on more traditional AI which have been called
‘creative’, such as the famous ‘hand of God’ move played by Deep Blue
in its chess match against Garry Kasparov. But these are quite rare…
These systems seem to exhibit a level of creativity and expressiveness
and linguistic artistry that machines hadn’t reached in the past. And,

creativity as well. 6 <<

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in the realm of game playing, ML-based AlphaGo has shown real

Creativity and coherence do not equate with competence, however, and

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therein lies at least part of the answer to the question that this book will
explore. To wit, how should the profession of architecture consider and
respond to futures made possible by advances in artificial intelligence, the
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so-called ‘Second Machine Age’?7 Having moved deliberately, if reluctantly,

through the eras of both CAD and BIM, can we propose a willful, designed
route – a professional strategy – that acknowledges the inevitability of
a preponderance of intelligent machines in every dimension of design,
SP

construction and built asset operation while maintaining a proper role for
human architects?

This is not a new question, at least as far as the relationship of machine

intelligence and its implication for Design with a capital D is concerned –
always the first place that architectural theory visits when struggling with a
big problem.8 Unexamined, however, are the implications for the practice,
rather than the result, of architecture. If designers solve, as described by Peter
Rowe (quoting Horst Rittel) ‘wicked problems’,9 with open-ended beginnings
and no fixed conclusion, competent practice requires heuristics across a
broad spectrum of technical and aesthetic issues. This would seem to be
a strategy that is exclusively human. However, computers are increasingly
able, empowered by machine learning, to learn these techniques, and when
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they do so, professional strategies and methods – and the value of designers
themselves – will be inalterably transfigured.

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INTRODUCTION xi

For the practice of architecture, the implications of this change are nascent.
Machine learning algorithms are evaluating mortgage applications, reading
routine X-rays, inventing never-before-seen strategies for playing board
games, and even getting dangerously close to composing coherent ideas.
However, AI-based approaches to the design generation are only now
becoming apparent and none are commercially viable. As Daniel Susskind
predicts in his second book, computers are increasingly becoming capable
of tasks, as opposed to entire jobs.10 Across the spectrum of services that
architects provide, there are ample opportunities for the automation of tasks.
Does that mean architectural work will be replaced, or by contrast augmented,
by capable computers? Rather than wrestle with the larger question of
whether we are to be wholly replaced by machines, perhaps a more intelligent
route can be found where computers assist in the critical, but more mundane,
aspects of practice: those that drive project delivery, technical precision and
performative predictability.

At this juncture, the architecture profession itself is not under existential

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threat, but neither has it developed a strategy for the inevitable advent of
learning machines. That strategy should have an expanded remit beyond our
usual worries about our agency as designers and look more broadly at how
EC

powerful computation may affect our roles in the formulation, conception,

delivery and use of buildings, and thereby the essential value of the profession
of architecture itself. To that end, this text will examine three aspects of
practice in the upcoming age of computer intelligence that in combination give
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us a view towards our fate:

1. How the processes and methods of practice may change.

2. What those changes will mean for our relationships to the systems of
delivery in the built environment.
3. What opportunities there may be to refactor and improve the results of
our efforts.

In concert it will attempt to propose a strategy for the profession going

forward into the age of machine intelligence.

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EN
IM
EC
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Understanding the implications

of a disruptive tool like artificial
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intelligence means exploring

the relationship between the
enabling technology, the agency
of architects in deploying that
tool towards new ends, how
that agency might change the
architect's role in the systems
of project delivery, and
finally how the value of the
architect's services might change
accordingly. Each of the following
chapters is a different take on the
combination of these questions.

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TECHNOLOGY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III

DELIVERY
AGENCY

VALUE
FOREWORD V

INTRODUCTION VI

1.1 TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES 2

1.2 WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)? 13

1.3 PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE 21

1.4 AI AND PROCESS TRANSFORMATION IN DESIGN AND BEYOND 32

1.5 SCOPES OF SERVICE 45

1.6 DELIVERY, MEANS AND METHODS 58 EN

IM
2.1 ECONOMICS, COMPENSATION AND VALUE 72

2.2 LAWS, POLICY AND RISK 82

EC

2.3 THE DEMAND FOR PROFESSIONALS 92

2.4 EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING 102

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3.1 THE OBJECTIVES OF DESIGN 116

3.2 CREATING,CONSUMING AND CURATING DATA 126

3.3 TASKS, AUTOMATED 136

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3.4 LABOUR OF DESIGN 148

3.5 VALUE PROPOSITIONS AND BUSINESS MODELS 155

4.1 CONCLUSION 168

BIBLIOGRAPHY 173

REFERENCES 176

INDEX /

CREDITS 184
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EN
IM
EC
SP

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>> HOW WILL THE PROCESSES AND
METHODOLOGIES OF ARCHITECTURAL WORK
CHANGE UNDER THE PRESSURES (AND
POSSIBILITIES) OF INTENSIVE AUTOMATION?
WHERE IS OUR WORK BEST AUGMENTED OR
EN
IM
INEVITABLY SUPPLANTED? <<
EC
SP
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>> COMPUTERS HAVE BEEN DEPLOYED OVER
THE LAST TWO DECADES LARGELY IN THE
SERVICE OF MORE EFFICIENT DEPICTION AND

EN
REPRESENTATION. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
SHIFTS THE FOCUS FROM REPRESENTING A
IM
DESIGN TO REASONING ABOUT IT DIGITALLY
– IN SOME CASES WITHOUT THE NEED FOR
A HUMAN OPERATOR OR EVEN MUCH HUMAN
EC

INTERVENTION. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN

FOR THE EVOLUTION OF THE INSTRUMENTS
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

SP

AVAILABLE TO MAKE ARCHITECTURE? <<

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3

TAXONOMY OF TECHNOLOGIES
Various scholars have written the history of technology in the architecture
profession and it is beyond the remit of this project to reprise that history in detail
here.1 It is possible, however, to see that history organised along two axes: the
progression of technologies that comprise the toolkits of architecture, and the
taxonomy of uses these tools support. Artificial intelligence – defined broadly as
the ability to perform complex cognitive tasks in ways that produce results akin to
the human mind – is an enabler of the various tools described in this taxonomy.

On the first axis, a vast simplification of the history of technologies in

our discipline could start as far back as 2150 BC, with a statue of the
Mesopotamian ruler, Gudea, that depicts a drawing of an architectural plan

EN
sitting on his lap,2 marking the putatively first evidence of analogue drawing
of a design. For at least the next 42 centuries architects abstracted their ideas
by depicting design, explicitly or implicitly at scale, on pieces of paper. Mario
Carpo maps this process in digital terms by suggesting that drawings and
IM
allographic notations, as vectors of design information, are actually a way of
processing data with the very limited ‘central processing unit (CPU) cycles’
made available by manual graphics.3 With minimal expenditure of energy –
the act of drawing two parallel lines on a piece of paper – the architect could
EC

imply the construction of a three-dimensional, tectonic, materialised wall in

the actualised building, and memorialise that rich idea for reference by the
entire enterprise responsible for making it.
SP

1.1.1: GUDEA,
WITH A PLAN
DRAWING IN
HIS LAP, C.
2150 BC4

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4 MACHINE LEARNING

COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN
In the penultimate decade of the 20th century, architects moved in earnest
into their first foray of digital, computer-aided design (CAD, sometimes
referred to as computer-aided drafting), whereby the mechanical process of
inscribing lines, arcs and circles on paper was replaced by creating those same
lines on to a virtual plane by inputting digital lines. While the vast investment
in computers and plotters made this transition feel monumental, it was in fact
more of a translation of existing techniques of drafting into virtual form, the
object of which was still the production of drawings – but more precise. The
evolution of technologies of large-scale printing devices (like plotters) moved
in parallel with the electronic drafting tools (like AutoCAD©).

EN
The move to computerised drawing, while ushering in an era of curvier
buildings that were suddenly easier to draw – and to a lesser extent also
easier to build – by virtue of the more precise geometry afforded by CAD,
did little to address the informational gap between the definition of a
IM
design, its intent by the architect and the builder’s ultimate responsibility
for its construction, a divide defined in the Renaissance by Alberti in De
re aedificatoria.5 According to Carpo, Alberti set out the proposition that
EC

architects draw and builders follow those drawings without deviation. CAD
gave architects an opportunity to draw faster, with more graphic consistency,
and even reuse certain representations (like AutoCAD© blocks) across multiple
sheets of a drawing set or even multiple projects. Yet, despite the added
SP

informational power of this data, the quality of work itself did not improve:

>> In short, the ontological gap between design intentions, their

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
notation through construction drawings, and their material
implementation leaves an inevitable grey area of undecidability,
argument, frustration, litigation, and liability where all kinds of ad-
hoc personal interventions, approximations, improvisation, bullying,
persuasion, implorations, machinations, and subterfuge take the place
of construction drawings and specifications, and haggling becomes the
design instrument of choice. 6 <<

Into this gap, 20 or so years later, came the next leap in representational
technologies: building information modelling (BIM). In theory, BIM
represented a flip of the traditional allographic strategy for architects: a 3D
representation of the building was constructed in virtual digital space, from
which those venerable drawings would be extracted as ‘reports’. Gudea’s floor

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1.1 TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES 5

EN
IM
plan, rather than representing the diagram of a design that otherwise lived 1.1.2: AN
in his head, would now be an extraction from full-scale digital replica living EARLY CAD
DRAWING
in computer memory – just another view of the relevant data. Every member BY PELLI
EC

of the design-to-build team could, in theory, add information to that model CLARKE PELLI
to complete their respective work. In practice, however, incompatibilities in ARCHITECTS

process and outcome, the adversarial nature of building and the centuries-old
allure of drawings have made BIM a tool used largely for production of even
SP

better working drawings than CAD. Its epistemological value as an organising

principle for the informatics of building is almost completely ignored.

The last 10 years have seen explosive digitisation of many aspects of modern
life, and design and construction have been no exception. Powered by the
ubiquitous availability of the massive storage and CPU power of the cloud,
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

and the ability to deliver those capabilities virtually anywhere through the
internet, the architecture/engineering/construction/operation (AECO) industry
is adopting a variety of computational tools, if peripatetically.

Designers have an array of

» modelling
» rendering
» data management
» analytical platforms.

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6 MACHINE LEARNING

Builders, armed with digital tablets on the project site:

» rely on digital versions of what used to be the exclusive domain of paper
» use data tools to manage the array of administrative transactions that
comprise the construction process, deploy drones and LiDAR (Light
Detection and Ranging) to document construction progress.

Building owners:
» demand digital documentation of completed projects in lieu of rolls of

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
post-construction drawings
» assemble data from sensor networks in their building control systems
to optimise building performance.

THE DIGITAL INTERSTICE

EN
All told, the AECO industry seems to have entered a ‘computational
interregnum’ of sorts, where various processes across the delivery continuum
IM
are becoming digitised. As a result, the variety of programs, platforms, data
types and supporting hardware is becoming as varied – and disorganised –
as the disaggregated building industry itself. In 1970, Nicholas Negroponte
EC

anticipated this state when he suggested that any transition to computation

first imitates directly the analogue process it proposes to replace.7 As a result,
we are likely to see more years of excitement and confusion as the building
industry wills itself into its digital future at the same time that it gives up
SP

the simple ‘interoperability’ afforded by paper-based, analogue processes.8

Desires for some sort of broad theory of global data exchange will remain
strong, but unrequited, outstripped by a software market eager to address
new opportunities and the inherent complexities of various processes that
necessarily comprise the delivery chain.

The building industry is typically not well-enough organised, nor can it compile
enough market clout, to adopt fresh technologies or innovations soon after
their introduction. It often has to wait until hardware, software or business
models are sufficiently mature for architects, engineers and builders to adopt,
adapt and improve such systems for their use. Such was the case with CAD
platforms, which were originated by the aerospace industry and had to be
ported down to personal computers sufficiently inexpensive to be in reach
of AECO customers. Similarly, modelling platforms such as BIM or high-
resolution rendering eventually appropriated the tools of manufacturing and
movie-making once those technologies were within economic reach.9

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1.1 TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES 7

1.1.3:
A LIDAR SCAN
OF CONSTRUCTION
IN PROGRESS,
MAPPED AGAINST
A BIM DATA SET.
THE CONDUITS
(IN GREEN)
AND DUCTING
(IN BLUE)
ARE VIRTUAL
ADDITIONS TO
THE DIGITAL
SCAN FROM THE
MODEL.

MOVING TO MACHINE INTELLIGENCE

EN
IM
In an exception to this otherwise reliable rule of thumb, architects did lead
the charge with the earliest versions of machine-driven design: scripting. As
the first proponents of technologies, such as McNeel Grasshopper (and, later,

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
EC

Autodesk Dynamo), architects defined and elaborated the idea of what is now
known as parametric, or generative, design, where computerised scripts drive
geometry engines (like Grasshopper controlling Rhino). However, after 20
years of such work, scripting capabilities are largely deployed in the service of
SP

relatively minor problems, such as shape generation or fenestration geometry,

rather than systematic alternative generation or analytical evaluation. While
later-generation tools like Hypar10 have begun to accelerate the idea of
generative design, the dearth of analytic tools to evaluate alternative designs
generated by scripting has generally limited their use to form generation.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence, the most recent tools on our
timeline, are likely to follow the typical path in order to reach architects.
While major corporations are already absorbing AI/ML capabilities into their
core operating strategies,11 most artificial intelligence available to architects
is delivered through their smart phones, while we order dinner online or
request a ride to the office. A few promising start-ups and other experiments
are testing the technology on various tasks on the construction site (e.g.
worker safety checking through computer vision) or project administration
(e.g. managing vast swathes of change orders and requests for information),
suggesting that we are still in early days.

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8 MACHINE LEARNING

1.1.4:
AUTODESK
SPACEMAKER
AI’S
DESIGN AND
EVALUATION
INTERFACE

EN
However, there are indications that this wait may not last much longer.
IM

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
As I write this chapter in November 2020, Autodesk, my former employer,
announced the acquisition of Spacemaker, an AI-driven design generation tool
that evaluates site and building constraints and generates preliminary design
EC

solutions (see Figure 1.1.4). That tool comprises a combination of design

representation, evaluative analysis and an AI infrastructure that learns best
results by interacting with its human decision-maker/operator.
SP

As such, it may be an indicator of where the next generation of modelling

representation, beyond BIM, may be heading. The acquisition cost was $240
million, or 25% more (in 2002 USD) than the acquisition of Revit Technologies,
which started the BIM revolution in AECO in earnest.12

A TAXONOMY OF USE
In earlier work I have proposed a taxonomy by which the vast array of
digital tools emerging might be categorised, irrespective of their underlying
technologies.13 In that analysis I suggest that the tasks of the building
enterprise, as supported by computation, fall broadly into four categories:

1. Representation (the depiction of authorial ideas).

2. Analysis and simulations (evaluation of those idea to understand their
performance and implications).
3. Realisation (the translation of those ideas into built form).
4. Collaboration (the distribution and management of information across
the enterprise).

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1.1 TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES 9

As we consider the implications of machine learning and artificial intelligence

in this context, those definitions require some additional refinement.

Representation
Drawings, text, images and physical models were the representational tools
of the pre-digital age, followed by CAD and, eventually, BIM and parametric
design. In a world of increasingly digitised data that might be consumed by
smart machines, mathematical models and other data sets depicting a built
asset – like sensor data coming from a building control system – should also
be considered as representational. Further, as early forays into parametric/
generative design suggest, algorithms that generate design are increasingly an
important part of the representational process.

Analysis and Simulation

Computation is well-suited to examining data that results from representation
in order to understand and evaluate it. Extended by the putative power of
EN
IM
artificial intelligence, this capability might more accurately be described, as
suggested by Agrawal, Gans and Goldfarb, as prediction: using (representational
and other) data to evaluate the implications of design decisions and predict
outcomes and implications of their underlying logic and decisions.14
EC

Realisation
Design data is the logical underpinning of digitised construction processes.
SP

This is particularly true as construction, assisted by AI/ML, is automated and

the processes of building are absorbed by machines that learn how to build.
Those robots will need design data to guide them on the job site. Similarly,
gathering information that documents the construction process – LiDAR scans
of construction process that are mapped into BIM by intelligent systems are
one example – is another aspect of digital project realisation.

Collaboration
From the early days of internet-based data management to today’s common
tools such as BIM 360, Procore or even Google Docs, project teams have
needed to organise, transmit and manage digital assets irrespective of format.
As we transit the digital interregnum, however, there is an increasing need
to index, locate and understand all this data, much in the same way that
modern search engines find information without user concern about format
or location. Over time, digital design and construction will demand federated

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10 MACHINE LEARNING

TIME REPRESENTATION SIMULATION AND REALISATION COLLABORATION

PREDICTION

ANALOGUE 2500 BC DRAWING AND EXPERIENCE, MANUAL COLLECTIONS

– 1985 PHYSICAL INTUITION, DOCUMENTATION OF PHYSICAL
MODELS JUDGEMENT AND ASSEMBLY OBJECTS

CAD 1985 – DIGITAL SCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAMMETRY, COMPUTER FILES,

2008 DRAWINGS VIA SPREADSHEETS GEOMETRY-DRIVEN OVERNIGHT
AUTOCAD©, RHINO FABRICATION EXPRESS

BIM 2008… BEHAVIOURAL BESPOKE LASER SCANNING, FILE SERVERS,

MODELS ANALYSIS DATA-DRIVEN CLOUD STORAGE

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
PARAMETRICS SOFTWARE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

DATA 2020… AN EXPLOSION AN EXPLOSION DIGITAL SINGLE DATA

INTERREGNUM OF FORMATS OF TOOLS INDUSTRIALISED ENVIRONMENTS
CONSTRUCTION

INTELLIGENT
MACHINES
2025… DATA
LAKES
MACHINE-
GENERATION
PROJECTIONS
EN REAL-TIME
DATA FEEDS,
ROBOTICS
MACHINE-GUIDED
INTEROPERABILITY
IM
1.1.5: project informatics across the enterprise, where data structures in differing
EC

RELATIONSHIP formats are connected to form a coherent whole with distinct parts. It is highly
OF
unlikely that standard data formats or interoperability protocols will allow
TECHNOLOGIES
AND TOOLS all this data to become useful across the varied processes of construction.
OVER TIME Machine learning algorithms may well be our only strategy to make sense of it.
SP

THE EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGIES AND TOOLS

Each of the technologies described above – analogue drawing, CAD, BIM, and
ultimately AI/ML – will change the way work is done and the tools deployed to
accomplish it. The intersection of technology types and the evolution of the
resulting processes and procedures they enable is described in Figure 1.1.5.

Computational power, reliance on automation, depth and breadth of data

resolution and precision increase dramatically as our profession has moved
from the upper left to the lower right on this grid. Certain aspects of design
autonomy will be refactored as machines take over some – but not all – of
the tasks of the architect. Figure 1.1.6 describes some of these possibilities,
mapping the evolution of our four categories of technologies against both the
data richness of the design enterprise (the top curve) and the automation of
design process (the bottom curve).

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1.1 TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES 11

2500 BC–1985 1985–2008 2008… 2025… 2030…

ANALOGUE CAD BIM DATA INTERSTICE AI / ML

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
#
INCREASING
BUILDING
COMPLEXITY
BETTER
DRAWING
AND
GEOMETRIC
BETTER
DRAWING EN DIGITAL
EXPLOSION
REPRESENTATION
/ INTEGRATION
IM
COMPLEXITY
EC

LEVEL OF
PRECISION

FAMILIES,
SP

DEGREE OF SCRIPTS, ROBUST AUTOMATION MACHINE

AUTOMATION OBJECTS DATA EXPLOSION AUTONOMY

LESS RESOLUTION AND PRECISION MORE

DESIGN REPRESENTATION
1.1.6 :
DEGREES OF AUTOMATION
HUMAN VS
MACHINE
AUTOMATION
It is suggested here that as tools become more enabled, there are parallel
increases in the granularity and complexity of resulting information, along
with the potential, in the digital era, for computational automation. During
the drawing era, for example, informational complexity increased only with
a similar change in the technical demands of construction itself, with the
introduction of modern construction systems and complex delivery models.
Automation was not available at all. The advent of CAD allowed for additional
geometric complexity, more extensive documentation (in theory) and some
automation through standard component libraries and scripting tools inside

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12 MACHINE LEARNING

the CAD programs themselves, such as AutoLISP in early AutoCAD©. Those

early scripting tools allowed the functions of AutoCAD© to be recorded and
repeated; their successors in Rhino controlled dimensional parameters of the
geometry model and gave the designer an ability to generate new forms.

A significant jump on both curves is apparent with the advent of BIM,

however, as representation switched from the abstraction of drawing to
virtual 3D models in parallel with parametric BIM families and data sets, and
generative design approaches through mature scripting that will memorialise
processes and procedures once dependent on human intervention. While
scripts within CAD simply manipulated geometry, tools like Dynamo allow a
designer to parametrically manipulate both the components of the design
(like the size of windows) and their relationship to the overall building (like

EN
the location of the windows within an exterior wall). In the interregnum, we

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
will see extensive generation of digital data and the episodic automation of
various processes that would be otherwise disconnected.
IM
The transition to broad-scale AI/ML will greatly enhance both the amount and
the value of its precedent digital sources, serving as data lakes for intelligent
machines to learn from. At the same time, computers will start to train
EC

themselves to perform machine-automated tasks. Those same machines will

teach themselves about the relationships of the heterogenous data sets that
comprise projects and create an ‘interoperable’ constellation of AECO data.
SP

These trends portend a potentially daunting – but entirely necessary –

trajectory for practice as the complexity of buildings and the power of
computers advance in parallel. In combination, sophisticated digital modelling
enhanced by machine intelligence will likely draw together the disparate
forces of design, construction and building operation in a single, consolidated
effort, coalescing around the data about the enterprise of building, from
inception to demolition. As Carpo speculates:

>> Given the unprecedented power of digital simulations, one may surmise that
at some point virtual models may become perfect duplicates of, and substitutes
for, the buildings they represent – embodying and enacting all and every aspect of
them. Their designers could then make a digital model just as builders would once
have made an actual building, and the final translation from model to building
would entail no intellectual (or informational) added value whatsoever.15 <<

The information about and knowledge necessary for building would, as a

result, be dramatically transformed. But how?

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13

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
>> THE IDEA THAT COMPUTERS MIGHT
DRAMATICALLY AUGMENT THE CAPABILITIES
OF HUMANS – OR POSSIBLY SUPPLANT
US ALTOGETHER – IS MANY YEARS OLD.
BEFORE SETTING OUT THE OPPORTUNITIES
EN
IM
AND THREATS OF AI FOR ARCHITECTURAL
PRACTICE, THIS CHAPTER WILL SKETCH A
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TECHNOLOGY AND
EC

POSIT A TAXONOMY BY WHICH ITS PRESENCE

AND FUTURE MIGHT BE UNDERSTOOD AND
SP

PREDICTED. <<

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14 MACHINE LEARNING

ORIGINS OF GOOD OLD-FASHIONED AI

The computer scientist John McCarthy is generally credited with coining the
term ‘artificial intelligence’ in 1956, suggesting that computing machines
could somehow mimic the functions of the human brain. And long before
computing was within reach of mainstream practising architects, Nicholas
Negroponte and others were exploring the idea of digital design. As early
as 1964, Walter Gropius acknowledged that there might be a role for these
new machines in the profession, suggesting that ‘it will certainly be up to us
architects to make use of them intelligently as means of superior mechanical
control which might provide us with ever-greater freedom for the creative
process of design’.1

EN
In 1958, the psychologist Frank Rosenblatt put forth a theory of ‘perceptrons’
that was the precursor of today’s modern neural networks. Rosenblatt posited
that it was theoretically possible to represent visual information by ‘teaching’
a crude digital facsimile of a human neuron, and thereby encode human
IM
knowledge in accessible form. A decade later, the theory was challenged by
MIT’s Marvin Minsky, who suggested that ‘deeper’ models (with more layers of
such neurons) would never yield reliable results, presaging an argument in AI
EC

strategy that survives, in part, to this day.

SP

1.2.1:
NICHOLAS
NEGROPONTE’S
URBAN 5
SEEK, BY THE
ARCHITECTURE
MACHINE
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

GROUP, AS
EXHIBITED AT
THE JEWISH
MUSEUM, NEW
YORK, 1970

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1.2 WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)? 15

At the same time Nicholas Negroponte was exploring more practical questions
in his MIT lab, ‘The Architecture Machine’. An architect by training, Negroponte
experimented widely in the early uses of technology and design, anticipating
our use of tools like large screens, video and cameras, machine intelligence and
immersive environments. His efforts anticipated early strategies for artificial
intelligence, positing the possibilities of ‘an intelligent environment that we
would all eventually inhabit and that would eventually surround all of us’.2

While Negroponte examined questions of the representation, generation

and manipulation of 3D space, other work considered core to understanding
human thought probed what was called natural language processing:
computers understanding and creating the written word.3 Computer scientists
attempted to translate emergent theories of human cognition into software,
creating computational and semantic structures to extract understanding
from text and reason inferentially from that resulting knowledge. This
EN
established what has since been called ‘GOFAI’ or ‘Good Old Fashioned AI’,4 as
attempts were made to build models of human cognition.
IM
By the mid-1980s, AI research and software companies were attempting to

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
extrapolate these theories into commercial ‘expert systems’, in which the
EC

knowledge of particular domains were painstakingly encoded by human

programmers into algorithms in order to transfer detailed domain knowledge
into a computer that could, theoretically, replace its human counterpart.
These efforts rapidly hit the limits of both the efficacy of theory and the
SP

processing and storage capacity of hardware. The ‘AI Winter’ ensued, in which
attention (and funding) waned for many years and the promises of AI would
seem unfulfilled.5

BEYOND PERCEPTRONS
By the 1990s, computers were getting faster, cheaper and more available, and
a different strategy for AI emerged: neural networks and machine learning.
Benefiting from the vast computing power – and equally gigantic storage
capacities – of the cloud, AI systems began to be based on a digital emulation
of human memory, encoding information and relationships in increasingly
complex layers that could be indexed and accessed like hyper-intelligent
databases.6 The power of computation revived the theory of the perceptron.
The definition of an expert system could shift from ‘human-encoded
understanding’ to ‘computer-generated expertise’ through programs that
‘learned’ from examining enormous data sets. Machine learning programs
could, by virtue of their ability to process vast amounts of example data,

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16 MACHINE LEARNING

1.2.2:
AI-BASED
X-RAY
EVALUATION7

create statistical correlations that approximated learning.8 Rather than

EN
IM
somehow simulating the mechanics of human understanding, the goal of
machine learning AI became software that could deeply learn – rather than be
told about – the world.9
EC

Nowadays, ‘deep learning’ comprises much of the academic and commercial

work in AI and is often conflated with the broader definition of the term.
Cloud computing infrastructure, fed by vast data sets coming from an array
of internet-based sources, along with significant progress in the underlying
SP

learning algorithms, has brought AI into daily use, from smartphones to

Google Translate. Computers are now world champion chess players,
competent radiologists and credit scorers. Later generation ML programs
can learn the rules of a game like backgammon by simply playing millions of
simulated contests and testing what works best.

As capable as these systems appear, they do not actually understand

anything, but have rather built semi-reliable statistical correlations of
information relationships. In highly constrained contexts (where, for example,
there is a well-defined training set, such as a game or a set of specific images),
ML systems are surprisingly effective, and particularly today in the realm of
natural language, as Google Translate demonstrates. As a result, much of the
work in AI/ML today pursues this empiricist strategy. What the AI/ML systems
entirely lack, however, is a rudimentary understanding of how the world works
or anything remotely resembling common sense.

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1.2 WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)? 17

There is scepticism that without such an understanding of context, AI systems

cannot be truly useful or reliable, and therefore if they will challenge the
existence of, say, architects. The psychologist and entrepreneur Gary Marcus
concludes that these ‘narrow intelligence’ strategies are flawed:

>> (I)t is a fallacy to suppose that what worked reasonably well for
domains such as speech recognition and object labeling – which
largely revolve around classification – will necessarily work reliably
for language understanding and higher-level reasoning. A number of
language benchmarks have been beaten, to be sure, but something
profound is still missing. Current deep learning systems can learn
endless correlations between arbitrary bits of information, but still go
no further; they fail to represent the richness of the world, and lack

Marcus argues that the work should consider a return to the original
motivations of the AI field – simulating human cognition – and combine the
EN
even any understanding that an external world exists at all. 10 <<
IM
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data collection and analysis capabilities of deep learning systems with new
models of perception and inference. While some progress has been made on
this front, such systems do not exist today and will depend on the digitisation
EC

of new theories of understanding and, particularly, causality.11

TOOLS OF INTELLIGENCE FOR ARCHITECTS

As AI becomes more capable, today’s architect is presented with a range of
SP

potential sources of intelligence to deploy in the service of the craft:

» her12 own talents, skills and experience (as certified by, for example,
their professional registration)
» an array of hard-coded computer programs that achieve specific ends
(such as energy analysis or structural engineering)
» machine learning systems (which might learn from data coming from
their design projects, or even sensors within finished buildings and
provide insight), and
» ultimately the speculative prospect of cognitive systems that can
reason within context (only seen in science fiction today).
The latter three, based on technology, are summarised in Figure 1.2.3.

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18 MACHINE LEARNING

1.2.3:
COMPARISON COMPUTATION TYPE TECHNOLOGY CAPABILITIES EXAMPLE
OF AI
ALGORITHMIC HARD-CODED AUTOMATION BUILDING
TECHNOLOGICAL (TRADITIONAL PROCEDURES OF SPECIFIC INFORMATION
TYPES SOFTWARE) PROCESSES AND MODELLING,
DATA INTERACTIONS ENERGY ANALYSIS
IN A HIGHLY SOFTWARE
CONSTRAINED
CONTEXT

EMPIRICIST NEURAL COLLECTION, LANGUAGE

(DEEP LEARNING NETWORKS CLASSIFICATION TRANSLATION,
AI SYSTEMS) AND CORRELATION CREDIT RISK
OF LARGE, ASSESSMENT,
HOMOGENOUS WINNING
DATA SETS JEOPARDY, PLAYING
SUPER-HUMAN CHESS

COGNITIVE CAUSALITY MODELS COMMON SENSE MEDICAL DATA

(‘COMMON SENSE’
LEARNING
SYSTEMS)
AND INFERENCE
ENGINES

EN KNOWLEDGE OF THE
WORLD COMBINED
WITH ENORMOUS
DATA SOURCES
FROM WHICH TO
REASON AND INFER
QUERIES, TERRORISM,
KNOWLEDGE
DATABASES13
IM
The computers available to architects today are more adept at direct problem-
solving than what Stanford Anderson once called ‘problem-worrying’, resolving
EC

the goals of the problem while simultaneously creating the design,14 evocative
of both Negroponte’s and Peter Rowe’s interest in heuristics as a strategy
for solving ‘wicked problems’.15 Hard-coded software single-mindedly solves
specific problems; your cost-estimating system will tell you nothing about
SP
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

the fire exiting required of your design, nor is it capable of learning how to
do so. Emerging AI/ML systems, now being applied to problems of the built
environment, may be able to evaluate or even predict issues in a specific
context, but certainly are nowhere near ready to design entire buildings,
heuristically or otherwise.16 And, as of this writing, devotees of cognitive
systems have spent decades building ‘real world knowledge’ as the basis of a
next generation inference system, with limited success.17

While questions of human consciousness are not considered here, it is fair to

describe intelligence – artificial or otherwise – as the ability to amass, organise
and reason inferentially about heterogeneous collections of knowledge in
context. Marcus believes this robustness cannot be currently achieved by
today’s AI systems, which are unable to ‘reason flexibly and dynamically about
the world, transferring what is learned in one context to another, in the way
that we would expect of an ordinary adult’.18 The work of architects surely

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1.2 WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)? 19

qualifies as ‘higher-level reasoning’ in Marcus’s terms, as he suggests that

‘where there is no coherent, causal understanding of basic concepts, there
may be no way to engineer robustness in complex real-world environments’.19

Early attempts, however, are beginning to emerge, with Autodesk’s

Spacemaker AI acquisition as a primary example. That tool uses a combination
of modelling, analytical algorithms and AI to generate and evaluate planning
alternatives, and then ‘learns’ about best practice by compiling results
garnered from both the result of analysis and the choices of the human
designers selecting the best options.

MACHINE CAPABILITIES
AI expert Mark Greaves describes the capabilities of current AI systems within

to simulation (using information to approximate similar circumstances in a

EN
a continuum from evaluation (understanding the implications of information),

different context), through to generation (creation of new ideas).20 I will add to

his categories, which are generally based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning21
IM
(to which we will return later), a fourth, earlier capability of lesser profundity,
‘understanding,’ where the system can locate, access and deploy information.
EC

Current capable empiricist AI/ML systems are excellent at evaluation (when

systems read routine X-rays, for example) and even, in some circumstances,
simulation (demonstrated best by extremely competent chess programs).
However, examples of real generation, beyond the occasional flash of brilliance
SP

in the use of a hitherto never before seen Go move,22 are limited, and there are
no circumstances where computers are capable of generating a set of original
ideas that comprise the design of something as complex as a building.

1.2.4:
CAPABILITY EXPLANATION MODIFIED
GREAVES’S
UNDERSTANDING BEING ABLE TO FIND, INDEX, ACCESS AND DEPLOY DATA MODEL OF AI
CAPABILITIES23
EVALUATION UNDERSTANDING THE IMPLICATIONS OF DATA BASED ON
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF VERY LARGE DATA SETS

SIMULATION PROJECTING FUTURE STATES OR CONDITIONS BASED ON

CHARACTERISTICS OF PAST SITUATIONS OR CONSTELLATIONS
OF DATA

GENERATION CREATING ENTIRELY NEW IDEAS OR CONCEPTS BASED ON

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF A GIVEN CONTEXT

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20 MACHINE LEARNING

This is, however, only the current state of affairs and is a function of empiricist
AI systems that can only ‘deduce’ based on massive correlations of data. It
is likely that, over time, empiricism will give way to emulation of cognition
as philosophers, neuroscientists, computer scientists and their commercial
counterparts build ever more capable machines that move toward general AI,
what Pedro Domingos has called the Master Algorithm,24 in the service of what
is now becoming known as ‘artificial general intelligence’, or machines that
can both learn and reason about the world in context. Today, we are far away
from such functionality, but it remains the grandest goal of AI development.

When Marcus’s ‘robustness’ meets Greaves’s generative capabilities, architects

(and most of the labour force, as Daniel Susskind has suggested) have much
to worry about, since ‘(q)uite simply, if we cannot count on our AI to behave

EN
reliably, we should not trust it’.6 So, until then, the work of human architects is
to orchestrate the combined tools of their talents, an array of software tools
including BIM and emerging deep learning tools into coherent and valuable
practice in anticipation of the day when cognitive platforms are readily
IM
available. By then, one hopes, the profession will have a firm grip on both the
technologies available and the means to direct them.
EC
SP
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21

>> PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE IN

ARCHITECTURE IS AN INTRACTABLE
EN

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CONSTRUCT, GIVEN THAT MUCH OF THE
COMPETENCE AND DECISION-MAKING BY
IM
PROFESSIONAL ARCHITECTS IS BASED ON
TRAINING, INSIGHT AND, MOST IMPORTANTLY,
EC

JUDGEMENT. TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE IS

NEITHER WELL-ORGANISED NOR EASILY
REACHED. ASSUMING AI MAKES BOTH THE
SP

CAPABILITIES AND KNOWLEDGE BASE OF

PROFESSIONALS MORE WIDELY ACCESSIBLE,
PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE WILL NO LONGER
RESIDE EXCLUSIVELY IN THE MINDS
OF HIGHLY TRAINED ARCHITECTS. DOES
PROFESSIONAL DESIGN TRANSFORM? <<

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22 MACHINE LEARNING

PROFESSIONALS AND PROFESSIONALISM

In The Future of the Professions, Richard and Daniel Susskind’s treatise on the
potential demise of the professions in a world of increasingly capable artificial
intelligence, you can find the following complete, if slightly tongue-in-cheek,
definition of why society has created and empowered a class of professionals,
architectural or otherwise (emphasis added):

>> In acknowledgement of and in return for their expertise,

experience and judgement, which they are expected to apply in
delivering affordable, accessible and up-to-date, reassuring and
reliable services, and on the understanding that they will curate and
update their knowledge and methods, train their members, set and
enforce standards for the quality of their work, and they will only
admit appropriately qualified individuals into their ranks, and that
they will always act honestly, in good faith, putting the interests
of clients ahead of their own, we (society) place our trust in the
EN
IM
professions in granting them exclusivity over a wide range of
socially significant services and activities, by paying them a fair
wage, by conferring upon them independence, autonomy, rights of
EC

self-determination, and by according them respect and status. 1 <<

There is a social bargain defined here: running our world would seem to
require both extraordinary expertise leavened by public trust, so we ennoble a
SP

small group of highly educated, certified and supposedly well-paid individuals

to do very special things. Architecture, it seems, as the profession that
translates desire and capital into occupiable space, falls under this rubric. And
while some have suggested that this power and influence has failed the public
it is intended to serve,2 architects remain a crucial, if challenged, component
of the equally challenged building industry ecosystem. That system, explored
more thoroughly in Chapter 1.6, is largely organised in the service of making
products – to wit, buildings and other physical infrastructure – yet architects
as professional players within it have a distinctly different role: individuals with
expertise who provide judgement and take personal responsibility for results
of that judgement. In the systems of building delivery, this means that, unlike
almost everyone else (builders, subcontractors, product suppliers, fabricators),
professional architects provide services, not things. And as a result, they take
personal, rather than corporate, responsibility for their actions.

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1.3 PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE 23

The philosopher Donald Schön, who studied how professionals learn and
deploy expertise, has suggested that architects and other professionals work
in a way that is distinct from less institutionalised careers by virtue of what
he calls ‘reflective practice’, or the ability to apply insight and make decisions
through the implicit understanding gained with ‘extraordinary knowledge in
matters of human importance’.3 What Schön called tacit ‘knowing in place’
we might call intuition, or the heuristic approach that Rittel describes as
necessary to solve the ‘wicked problems’ of design.4 We will examine later the
question of whether an AI could even achieve such ‘extraordinary knowledge’,
but for purposes of this specific exploration of professionalism, let us stipulate
that the architect’s synthetic role, by virtue of her professional responsibilities,
is not well-replaced entirely by either empiricist AI of today or perhaps even
tomorrow’s cognitive systems that could somehow ‘learn’ all the procedures
and processes of practice. If Schön is correct, there is something about
professional knowledge that will lie beyond the reach of those systems.

However – and with AI, it seems there is always a ‘however’ – the formulation,
EN
IM
design, procurement, construction and operation of a building is rife with
procedural and data-driven tasks, ranging from calculating quantities
to modulating temperature and humidity. As such, the systems within
EC

which those processes operate are sure to be influenced, if not partially

transformed, by autonomous computing. The question for architects is where,
how and what will tomorrow’s AI-assisted architects really need to know?
SP

WHAT IS PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE?

In autumn 2020 I participated in an online panel of practitioners, educators
and students to explore career prospects for graduates, during what we
hoped was the latter stages of the global pandemic. Late in the discussion
there was an exchange between the principal of a local firm and a well-
respected, left-leaning dean of a New York school, comparing their respective
expectations of professional know-how of recent graduates. Unsurprisingly,
the practising architect wondered why his recent hires knew so little
about ‘how a building goes together’ (a familiar refrain) or the processes
or procedures of practice. The dean wondered why she should prepare
graduates for a profession that currently seems so unsuited to the challenges
– social, economic, environmental – of the times, and suggested that her
job was to graduate students not in order to support the practice of today,
but rather to radically reform it in and for the future. Unwilling to miss an
opportunity to triangulate one of my favourite hobby horses, I asked the

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24 MACHINE LEARNING

practitioner how the profession can simultaneously demand that graduates

know so much more – and be delivered to them by the schools as ‘mini-
architects’ – while paying them so little. The response was telling: in this local
firm, reaching licensure meant a bump in pay of $1,000, or slightly less than 2%
of what I expect he pays his least experienced staff.5

So, what do you need to know to be an architect? The vantage points of

the panellists can be a good starting point: what do educators think a
young architect needs to know to begin her career, versus the authors of
professional licensing examinations and requirements? Of course, the timing
does not correspond exactly, since licensure in the UK and US requires
professional experience after education, but nevertheless a comparison of
the two constructs is instructive. For purposes of this examination, I compare

EN
a curriculum with which I am deeply familiar (that of the Yale School of
Architecture) and the post-graduate licensure competencies as outlined by the
ARB Part 3 examination in the UK and the comparable standard in the United
States: the Architectural Registration Exam (ARE) administered by the National
IM
Council of Architectural Registrations Boards (NCARB).6
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At Yale, we require our ‘Part 2’ candidates (those getting a post-baccalaureate

EC

Master of Architecture degree) to be capable in the following curricular

categories:7
» Architectural Design – traditional studio pedagogy in the creation of
a building design, focused primarily on the conceptual and schematic
SP

phases of the work.

» Visualisation – depiction, through analogue and digital means, of
ideas of building design.
» Environmental Systems – the design and integration of structural,
mechanical, electrical and other technical subsystems of building.
» History/Theory – understanding the historical and theoretical
platforms of the discipline of architecture.
» Building Technology – seeing and performing the technical
manifestation of building, including integration of complex systems,
creation of construction documentation and field construction
experience.
» Urban Design and Landscape – understanding how buildings operate in
the context of cities and sites.
» Professional Practice – introduction to the profession, including ethical,
legal, project management, business and project delivery aspects.

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1.3 PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE 25

The comparable list of competency categories from the NCARB ARE is both
more extensive and somewhat incompatible, with six major categories and
almost 100 sub-competencies:8
» Practice Management – how do you run an architectural practice?
» Project Management – how do you manage, coordinate and lead a
project through the stages of delivery?
» Programming and Analysis – how do you set up a project to be ready
to design it?
» Project Planning and Design – what do you need to know to design
a complete building that meets all applicable regulations and
requirements?
» Project Development and Documentation – once the design is set,

»
EN
how do you properly detail, document and transmit that project to
the builder?
Construction and Evaluation – once the design is complete, how do you
support and administrate construction, and evaluate the building after
IM
its completion?
The ARB, as a somewhat more parsimonious examiner, has fewer categories
and only half as many sub-competencies (50):9
EC

» Professionalism – how do you function ethically as a professional, and in

a practice?
» Clients, Users and Delivery of Services – what is your role in
SP

organising, leading and managing a project?

» Legal Framework and Processes – what are the legal and regulatory
frames of practice and building, and what is your responsibility for
them?
» Practice and Management – how do you run an architectural
business?
» Building Procurement – what are your roles and responsibilities
during contactor procurements and subsequently, construction?

An informal mapping of sub-competencies against curricular categories yields

an interesting disconnect, particularly as regards UK standards, suggested by
the comparison in Figure 1.3.1.

It would seem that issues of practical implementation, and particularly as

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regards the business and processes of professional practice, are emphasised

strongly by the ARB, and assuming that architecture curricula are generally

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26 MACHINE LEARNING

COMPARISON OF NCARB, ARB, AND YALE PART 2

MEASURES OF COMPETENCY YALE PART 2

ARCHITECTURAL
ARB
DESIGN

HISTORY/THEORY
NCARB

ENVIRONMENTAL
SYSTEMS

BUILDING
TECHNOLOGY

VISUALISATION

URBAN DESIGN AND

LANDSCAPE

PROFESSIONAL
PRACTICE
EN
IM
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
EC

1.3.1: aligned around the world (having all been derived from a similar source in the
COMPARING Beaux Arts) there is generally a dramatic shift in emphasis as a student leaves
CURRICULUM
AND
the studios of schools and enters those of practice, with the resulting tensions
SP

COMPETENCIES, illuminated during our panel.

US AND UK
FOR NCARB,
An architect is trained on curricular platforms established by educators – and
ARB AND YALE
PART 2 accreditors like ARB – to reflect an understanding of required aptitudes on
the one hand, while professional licensing establishes a parallel, if different,
level of minimal professional competence on the other.10 As such, both are
rough proxies for what our discipline believes an architect needs to know to
practise. And while the American standard seems to emphasise the synthetic
act of design itself in comparison to its British counterpart, an understanding
of performance, practice and technical issues, as indicated by the emphasis
on environmental systems, building technology and professional practice,
appears to be, on the whole, a more important gauge of whether an educated
student can be properly certified to protect the public’s health, safety and
welfare – the raison d’être for professional certification in the first place.
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1.3 PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE 27

In a recent exploration of the implications of AI, the computer scientist Stuart

Russell suggests that a fundamental characteristic of human reasoning, and
with it, of human knowledge, is our ability to deploy our understanding in
the service of actions hierarchically with ‘dozens of levels of abstraction’.11 He
further invokes the Aristotelean concept of practical reasoning, the idea that
knowledge and actions are rationally deployed in the service of achieving a
specific goal.12 For architects, those goals might be as limited as ‘make sure
this door swings in the right direction’ to as lofty as ‘try to stir the soul with
this spatial experience’. The knowledge necessary to accomplish the former
requires a rudimentary understanding of how doors work, perhaps in the
context of a building regulation, while the latter likely demands the collective
insight from a lifetime of work. Either way, each goal shares the common
requirement that the architect reference proper, current and relevant
information and apply her judgement in its use.

A talented designer deploys her skills in managing these ‘dozens of levels

of abstraction’ in ways both poetic and technical, and much current work
EN
IM
in architectural AI research, particularly in the academy, is focused on the
former. Training machine-learning systems on thousands of beaux-arts
floor plans in order to generate new options or using AI strategies to create
EC

novel aesthetic solutions is, of course, a valid avenue of exploration. It is not,

however, the place where such systems are likely to have the most immediate
nor important implications for practice in the near term and thus not the
focus of the balance of this examination.
SP

Developing a complete epistemology – aesthetic or technical – is a task for

others, but for the purposes of this examination we might therefore conclude
that architectural knowledge ranges from detailed technical information,
through an understanding of procedures and processes, to insights gained
from constant reapplication, refinement and synthesis during the course of
career in the profession. Where might AI fit in to such a construct?

HOW MIGHT PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE CHANGE

UNDER AI?
The emphasis of licensing regulators on the more prosaic aspects of practice
and professional competence would seem at odds with both the curricular
emphasis of architectural knowledge as created in the academy and the need
to train architects to face an uncertain future of new conditions, technologies
and responsibilities.

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28 MACHINE LEARNING

1.3.2: AN
AI-GENERATED
IMAGE

EN
IM
EC

It is not, however, incompatible with the current, or even immediately

forthcoming, capabilities of artificial intelligence systems, which are very
adept at collecting, indexing and referencing vast amounts of very ‘thin’ data.
By ‘thin’, I mean epistemologically ‘shallow’ information: information that is
SP

largely devoid of machine-generated meaning or insight. Today’s AI systems

can absorb vast amounts of digital information, mostly words and images, but
with scant real understanding of their underlying meaning or implications.
Despite Mario Carpo’s assertion that a completely digitally indexed world
makes knowledge universally accessible and therefore the need for
techniques like human reasoning or the scientific method obsolete,13 we have
yet to see machines with even the faintest idea of what a building actually ‘is’
– which will require the evolution of cognitive intelligence in order to usefully
deploy the vast potential catalogue of building knowledge.

A brief demonstration tells this story well. Consider the image in Figure 1.3.2.

Two of today’s supposedly ‘best’ AI capabilities are natural language

processing and image indexing and generation. Researchers at the Allen
Institute for AI, who work on understanding human implications of AI systems,

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1.3 PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE 29

have built a generator that creates images from its understanding of a short
descriptive phrase. The picture here is the result of the phrase ‘building in a
city’, not a difficult or particularly complex challenge. You can judge the result
for yourself and try your hand at AI-created images on the Allen Institute
website.14

Stipulating that computers in general, and AI in particular, are excellent

at finding, sorting and cataloguing information and accessing it through
correlation and statistics,15 I would assert two related potential implications of
the intersections of architecture, digital knowledge, and AI:

1. Most relevant – and certainly no surprise to architect readers – the

world’s architectural knowledge is dissipated, poorly organised and

EN
virtually inaccessible with ease. There is no architectural version of, say,
the MEDLINE index, which cross-references all medical research, or (here
in the United States) Lexus/Nexus, which provides access to the entire
history of American legal cases. Proper medical treatment would be almost
1.3.3: LEXUS/
NEXUS LEGAL
RESEARCH
SYSTEM IN
THE UNITED
IM
STATES.
impossible without the former, nor could common law jurisprudence like in THERE IS NO
the US or UK progress without the latter. COMPARABLE
SYSTEM FOR
2. Perhaps, therefore, the first role of any AI system aimed at the building
EC

ARCHITECTURAL
industry could be getting our data, which are increasingly digitised and DATA
sorted.
SP
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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30 MACHINE LEARNING

At the point where the numerous sources of architectural data, ranging from
building product manufacturer’s specifications to LIDAR scans of downtown

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
sites in London, are accessible, next generation AI systems can not only begin
to emerge, but proliferate to the point where both those systems and the
data they catalogue can be of use. As I have asserted elsewhere,16 measured
performance based on data and analytics are likely to become a much more
important part of design and construction as it digitises, and a first role of AI
would be to help rationalise the informational platforms necessary to make
that happen.

In doing so, one of the greatest yet untapped resources available to today’s
architects may become available to their successors, to wit, the digital project

1.3.4:
EN
data, terabytes of which reside on servers in today’s offices across the world,
that are the artefacts of project work. As a practitioner in the 1980s and 1990s,
despite all our digital drawings and other data, we relied on memory to inform
us, with only our brains to connect our hard-won experience on previous
IM
DIGITAL
projects with decisions we needed to make on our current jobs.17 While
INFORMATION
SOURCES AS today a human architect might have to scan a multitude of digital models to
SUGGESTED BY determine a best practice or trend illuminated by that data, an AI is well-suited
EC

THE BUILDING
to gathering and evaluating such information from a firm’s archives.
VENTURES
INNOVATION
NETWORK
SP

MODELS ROBOTS VISION METHODS OTHER TECH ENABLERS

BIM AUTONOMY AR/VR ADVANCED ELECTRIC AI/ML IoT
MATERIALS VEHICLES

DIGITAL DRONES UAV REALITY MODULAR (TEX) TENANT MOBILE BLOCK CHAIN
TWINS CAPTURE PREFAB EXPERIENCE

GIS ROBOTICS COMPUTER 3D PRINTING BUILDING COMPUTATIONAL 5G/LTE/Wifi

VISION MANAGEMENT

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1.3 PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE 31

That same principle may apply to another intractable issue of architectural

knowledge, the interoperability of information across digital systems. Figure
1.3.4 describes a potential array of today’s digital information that could be
rationalised by AI into new outputs. AI processes are well-suited to indexing,
cross-referencing and correlating such data, and as such could become an
implicit interoperability tool for AEC information, and thereby begin to build a
more coherent informational platform for subsequent systems – disciplinary
and computational – to evolve. A parallel concept in computer science, known
as ‘glue code’, is a precedent. Glue code is comprised of computer instructions
that operate at a low level in larger systems to connect disparate parts of a
larger program, passing data from one subroutine to another. While hardly
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

exotic, AI may be the glue code of architectural knowledge of the future.

NEW MODELS OF KNOWLEDGE

The broad outline of an argument to be built further in the balance of this
text should be apparent: there is much to do and a long way to go before AI
EN
IM
becomes even useful for architects, much less an existential threat. Let us
assume that utility is preferable to destruction, that architectural processes
(like many processes of the industry) are increasingly dependent upon
computation, and that truly useful AI systems must rely on that data. There will
EC

likely be a time, perhaps a decade or more hence, where computational and

epistemological coherence will combine for architects, and the days of disparate
standards, incompatible digital processes and inaccessible insight will end.
SP

That work will likely grow from the priorities of practice, which, as argued
above, are largely concerned with the more practical, procedural and prosaic.
And as other parts of the building delivery process, examples of which include
feasibility studies, precision cost-modelling, construction automation and
autonomous digital building operation, evolve through increasing digitisation,
architects will need to understand how to manage and access information and
deploy it in the service of the new responsibilities and professional obligations
that will result. Where today’s architect relies on passing familiarity with an
ever-increasing pool of information combined with professional judgement and
intuition, tomorrow’s will likely need the intervening capabilities of AI to design.

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>> EMERGENT ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
TECHNOLOGIES GENERATE AN ARRAY OF
OPPORTUNITIES FOR DESIGNERS IN AN
INCREASINGLY DIGITISED CONSTRUCTION
EN
IM
INDUSTRY, WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY
INTRODUCING TREMENDOUS UNCERTAINTY
EC

IN DEFINING THEIR ROLES AND

RESPONSIBILITIES. IN A WORLD OF
ACCELERATED AUTOMATED PROCESSES, HOW
SP

MIGHT THE CURRENT TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

TO THE PROFESSION TRANSFORM AS AI

BECOMES MORE CAPABLE? <<

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33

My first real job in an architect’s office was in the pre-digital era, long before
computers became ubiquitous in the profession. The managing partner of our
small practice in North Carolina returned to the studio one summer afternoon
after a demonstration of a new technology called ‘computer-aided drafting’.
While he was deeply sceptical of the entire idea, and especially the cost, he
noted that watching the plotter create a drawing was mesmerising, ‘like a real
draftsman1 working on one part of the drawing and then another’. He also
made it clear that no machine was going to be replacing anyone there laying
down plastic lead on mylar sheets in our office in the foreseeable future.

My old boss was channelling architects’ early but persistent uncertainty

towards technology. While a decade earlier the visionary technologist Nicholas
Negroponte and his colleagues were working at MIT on ‘The Architecture

EN
Machine’, mainstream practices like my employer were years away from
anything more sophisticated than a word processing system.2
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

Somewhere in the space between Negroponte’s research and my first drafting

IM
job tracing flashing details, one can find the dual anxieties at the heart of
this ambivalence: the conviction that our work as architects is a uniquely
valuable contribution, paired with the paranoia that capable machines will
EC

mercilessly replace us – the source of our profession’s angst about machine

intelligence and its putative disastrous effect on design process. However, as
Stanford computer scientist, Roy Amara, is purported to have said, ‘We tend
SP

1.4.1: AN
EARLY PEN
PLOTTER,
C. 1980

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34 MACHINE LEARNING

to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate

the effect in the long run,’3 which is certainly the case with architecture’s
current concerns about artificial intelligence. The technological circumstances
today are radically different from those of four decades ago, but the
ambivalence justifiably remains.

Resulting concerns about the implications of AI on practice run the gamut

from design theory to employment economics. Neil Leach wonders whether
AI-enabled computers can be creative,4 while Antoine Picon gingerly embraces
the opportunities of machine-assisted design and simultaneously worries
about AI restructuring the labour force:

>> Until recently, one assumed that automation would impact only

EN
poorly qualified jobs. This might not be the case. Architecture will be
probably among the most severely hit disciplines. The reason for this
high degree of vulnerability is that architecture is among the most
formalized of all the arts. The mechanical part is stronger than in
IM
other domains, and hence the traditional position of the discipline on
the threshold between art and technology. 5 <<
EC

Labour economist Daniel Susskind (quoting the Governor of the Bank of

England) refers to this phenomenon as ‘the massacre of the Dilberts’6 and
challenges the value proposition of professionals more generally:

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
SP

>> (W)e argue that the professions will undergo two parallel sets
of changes. The first will be dominated by automation. Traditional
ways of working will be streamlined and optimized through the
application of technology. The second will be dominated by innovation.
Increasingly capable systems will transform the work of professionals,
giving birth to new ways of sharing practical expertise. In the long run,
this second future will prevail, and our professions will be dismantled
incrementally. 7 <<

There can be a wide gulf between theoretical speculation and the realities
of daily practice, so now is an opportune time to bridge the two, lest the
dismantling begin in earnest. Beyond theorising about the possibilities of this
new technology – ignoring in the hope it will pass us by or fighting the inevitable
automation of knowledge work – we should examine the relationship between
design process and machine intelligence to determine how, if at all, they can at
worst co-exist and at best be mutually complementary.

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1.4 AI AND PROCESS TRANSFORMATION IN DESIGN AND BEYOND 35

PROCESSES AND PLATFORMS

As the building industry has become increasingly digitised, an emergent
taxonomy of data inputs, algorithmic processes and potential AI-assisted
outputs is emerging. As the industry relies more and more on computers, it
creates large pools of digital information. Those data are made accessible
via so-called common data environment platforms that organise, index and
reference the resulting information. They systematise both inputs and outputs
created by the collection of current automated process tools common to
the industry – CAD, BIM, analytical engines, spreadsheets and so forth. As
AI tools become available to AECO, a new set of autonomous process tools
will emerge that create results without the direct input and control that
were necessary for their automated predecessors. The combination of all
three process platforms – common data environments, automated process
tools and autonomous processes – will generate a new series of potential
outcomes that are likely to radically change design process and the architect’s
responsibility for results.
EN 1.4.2:
INPUTS,
PROCESS
IM
TRANSFORMATION
See Figure 1.4.1 for a diagram of these relationships. AND OUTCOMES
EC

AI PROCESS EVOLUTION

ALTERNATIVE,
DESIGN AUTONOMOUS,
GENERATION, CONTSTRUCTION
SP

TASK OPTIMISED ASSET

EVALUATION, AUTOMATION
AUTOMATION OPERATION
SELECTION

OUTCOMES

AUTONOMOUS
PROCESSES
CV NLP ML ROB

BIM DIGITAL TWINS,

ANALYTICS CV COMPUTER VISION

NLP NATURAL LANGUAGE

PROCESSING
AUTOMATED ‘COMMON DATA
PROCESSES ML MACHINE LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT’
INPUTS ROB ROBOTICS

MODELS, SCANNING, EVALUATION, CONSTRUCTION BUILDING

DRAWINGS, IMAGES AND SIMULATION, MANAGEMENT CONTROL, I.O.T,
DESIGN REALITY ANALYSIS DATA AUTOMATION
ASSETS CAPTURES DATA

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36 MACHINE LEARNING

Today’s building projects generate huge piles of digital information, as the

tools of building are increasingly computer-based. While in the 1980s and
early 1990s the most relevant digital output was created by either CAD or
word processing tools (primarily by AutoCAD© and WordPerfect, respectively),
some element of almost every part of the design-build-operate-use continuum
is digitised today. The ease with which the architecture profession shifted
entirely to remote work during the Covid pandemic demonstrates that design
work can be largely digitised and is likely to remain so, permanently.

As we saw in the previous chapter, today’s artificial intelligence systems,

based largely on empiricist platforms, must consume vast amounts of digital
information to reach some level of basic competence. Unfortunately, these
data exist today in a wide variety of forms and formats, and are not nearly as

pictures of cats.
EN
heterogeneous as the records of thousands of games of chess or millions of

However, it is possible to categorise digital building information in ways

IM
suggested by current practice and the likely evolution of digital techniques
and processes, in order to develop intelligent input strategies for the futures
of AI in design. Those categories include:
EC

Design representations in the form of models, drawings, studies,

project management documents and other metadata generated as
result of the creation of asset design, coordination and construction.
SP

Representational information is generated by the designers, builders and

building operators to formally memorialise intent. Building information
models (BIM) fall into this category and are important for other reasons
that will be explored later.

Reality capture information that documents existing physical

reality, including topographic and GIS data, as well as video records,
photographs (2D and 3D) and point cloud data from scans of existing
conditions and construction in progress, all of which combine to
translate the physical world of building into accessible, digital form.

Evaluation, simulation and analytical data, including reference data

sets that support design, engineering and construction management,
analytical models for determining performance and simulations that use
design representations as input to project behaviour of the project as
it is being developed. Structural engineering analysis software, energy
modelling and computational fluid dynamics models are good examples
of what Andrew Witt calls ‘technoscientific’ models.8
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1.4 AI AND PROCESS TRANSFORMATION IN DESIGN AND BEYOND 37

1.4.3:
A BUILDING
INFORMATION
MODEL (BIM)

EN 1.4.4:
A LIDAR
SCAN
IM
EC
SP

1.4.5:
DIGITAL
ANALYSIS AND
SIMULATION

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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38 MACHINE LEARNING

1.4.6:
AUTODESK
B360
COST
MANAGEMENT
TRACKING
SYSTEM

EN
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

1.4.7:
IM
AUTODESK
TANDEM
DIGITAL TWIN
EC
SP

Control and coordination information generated by process control,

monitoring and tracking protocols, such as construction management data
systems, project control websites and cost estimating/management systems.

Asset operation, systems performance and use information generated

from building management control systems and other sensors that run
the asset, and internet of things (IoT) information depicting the interaction
of users with the asset itself. As built assets contain more and more digital
infrastructure of all sorts, the resulting data will accumulate as a record
against which future designs can be developed.

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1.4 AI AND PROCESS TRANSFORMATION IN DESIGN AND BEYOND 39

In combination these data sources are incoherent, held together only by

the abstract concept of ‘the project’ enterprise that originates, realises,
operates and uses a built asset. Individually, however, they are well
organised, indexed, consistent and thereby entirely accessible as data
sources for machine intelligence systems, and in some cases may be
generated by such systems themselves.

PROCESS TRANSFORMATION
At the centre of the transformation of data streams into new, digitally enabled
outcomes are both existing and new software, platforms and computerised
procedures that work in combination to move the work of architects to its
digital future, comprised of three elements.

1.
EN
Common Data Environment: Streams of input coalesce in an
environment called the Common Data Environment, or CDE, which is
formally defined as ‘agreed source of information for any given project
or asset for collecting, managing and disseminating each information
IM
container through a managed process’.9 That information structure
creates an index referencing system for organising, locating, versioning
and deploying various digital artefacts of the asset creation process
EC

(referred to above as ‘containers’) and as such provides referenceable

‘containers’ (using CDE terms) for the various input streams and data
collections that accumulate during project asset creation.
SP

The designers, builders and operators of a project then have two types of
tools to either create or support their respective roles in the creation of a
building: those that are ‘automated’ and those that are ‘autonomous’. It is a
distinction that will be important to define, during the balance of this book,
how AI tools offer different opportunities – and threats – to the architect.

2. Automated processes: Automated tools are those digital instruments with

which most architects are familiar today and fall directly in the category
of ‘algorithmic’ machine intelligence. Any software tool today that, as
an outcome of direct human manipulation of its capabilities, generates
results and data based on a specific set of inputs could be characterised
as ‘automated’. For purposes of this discussion, we can use the example of
BIM to illustrate this point.
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40 MACHINE LEARNING

An architect developing her design using a BIM tool is largely in complete

control of the data creation process. She decides that her project needs doors,
walls, windows and floors, and creates those elements digitally by instructing
her BIM software to do so. Each of those elements has been algorithmically
encoded to have specific characteristics; a door, for example, has a certain
constrained relationship to a wall and in that sense has specific tectonic
‘intelligence’ that the architect deploys as she creates the model. The process
of deploying that door is automated as she instantiates it into her BIM, and its
representation in various modalities – the plans, elevations, sections, details,
schedules – is automatically populated in those spots for her. Most traditional
software tools available to the architect today are such ‘automated’ processes.

3. Autonomous processes: Artificial intelligence tools, however, are distinct

from their automated counterparts in that they process and generate
results without the direct intervention of the designer, operating
EN
autonomously. When our BIM-enabled architect above searches online for
product information, for example, the search engine’s AI-driven process
IM
combines what it has ‘learned’ as a machine about not just the realm of
building product information on the web based on previous searches but
what her specific interests might be, based on a model of her previous
EC

searches and its conclusions about the objectives she had in initiating the
search in the first place. As such, the product search, and all such tools
that today are based on AI/ML systems, are ‘autonomous’ and distinct
from her BIM authoring experience.
SP

A NEW GENERATION OF OUTCOMES

With increasingly large, better organised data sets accessible to AI-based
systems, we can speculate on the likely set of autonomous opportunities that
architects will see in the next decade as such systems become more capable
and available. These categories, that we will call ‘autonomous outputs’ for now,
form a speculative framework from which we can begin to build strategies for
the implications for the profession, and might include the following:

Design task automation: Procedures and protocols that require the direct
intervention of the designer as likely to be autonomous in the future.
While most code checking is a manual process today, that procedure
can be supported by submitting a digital model to a code-checking tool
that uses AI to evaluate code compliance, combining a more traditional
‘architectural’ model with a technoscientific counterpart.

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1.4 AI AND PROCESS TRANSFORMATION IN DESIGN AND BEYOND 41

EN
IM
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

Tomorrow, that AI-based code checker could be lurking in the background 1.4.8:
EC

of a BIM process, anticipating code-related problems as the designer UPCODES

CODE-
creates her scheme. Similar autonomous protocols might reach across the CHECKING
entire delivery and operation life of a building. SOFTWARE
SP

Alternative generation, exploration: Design alternatives were once

created entirely by direct manipulation of design information, like the
cardboard models shown in Figure 1.4.9. Today this process is assisted by
scripting, a form of ‘automating’ the control of certain digitally controlled
parameters of a model to vary its characteristics and thereby create a
variety of solutions. Those scripts are sometimes combined with analytical
software – such as energy analysis – to evaluate and optimise the results.
Scripts create the parameters by which designs might be generated in the
future by AI.

Construction automation: As robotics accelerate with AI-assisted systems

for control, enhanced by computer vision and bolstered by the advent
of industrialised construction processes borrowed from manufacturing,
construction tasks once performed exclusively by human workers will be
augmented, and in some cases, replaced, by autonomous devices on the
job site. An excellent recent example is the PictoBot, an AI-driven robot

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42 MACHINE LEARNING

that works alongside an accompanying human supervisor to paint interior

walls, otherwise unassisted. While the patterns, locations and finishes
of such work might be specified in the architect’s building information
model, translating the designer’s intent for a surface with those particular
characteristics requires a context-dependent operation that can only
mechanised effectively through some sort of computational intelligence.

Autonomous building function: If the architect’s and engineer’s initial

BIM is a first functional descriptor of a building that might include the
performance objectives of its systems (and the design of the control
infrastructure that might implement that performance), the operating
air, water, waste and signal systems of that building generate another
digital collection of data that, in concert with real-time analytics, can be

EN
used to calibrate and optimise those systems. Companies that provide
such building infrastructure, such as Johnson Controls, build not just,
for example, an air distribution system but also the digital controls for
the system that communicate with AI-based monitors that memorialise
IM
and optimise the system output and use of energy (thereby reducing
carbon). Of course, the resulting analytical data sets, interpreted by AI,
can also provide insight into the design of subsequent buildings and their
EC

component equipment.

1.4.9:
MANUALLY
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

SP

CONSTRUCTED
STUDY
MODELS, C.
1993

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1.4 AI AND PROCESS TRANSFORMATION IN DESIGN AND BEYOND 43

EN
IM
EC

1.4.10:
SCRIPTING
TOOLS TO
GENERATE A
BUILDING
SP

ENCLOSURE

1.4.11
PICTOBOT, AN
AUTONOMOUS
PAINTING
ROBOT, AS
PROPOSED BY
E. ASADI, B.
LI AND I.
CHEN10

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44 MACHINE LEARNING

A VIRTUOUS LOOP

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
The relationship between today’s largely automated processes used by
designers and builders (like BIM) will, over time, give way to the autonomous
opportunities of AI-based processes, and in doing so transform both the
inputs and outputs of the building process. As computational platforms gain
independence from their human masters, they themselves will generate
additional sources of data in a potentially virtuous, self-reinforcing data loop.
Properly guided, this cycle might bring the industry many of the advantages of
productivity, efficiency and effectiveness that the designers, builders and users
of buildings alike so desire. Doing so requires those same players to be directive
about the generation of digital information and its intelligent use, with clear
ideas of how AI might translate vast oceans of data into useful knowledge.

EN
IM
EC
SP

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45

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
>> DIGITISATION WILL CONTINUE TO
TRANSFORM THE WORK OF ARCHITECTS,
AUGMENTING AND SUPPORTING SOME
ACTIVITIES AND REPLACING OTHERS. WHILE
TODAY’S COMPUTERS DO SO IN A WAY THAT IS
LARGELY PROCEDURAL – ACCELERATING WORK
AND MANAGING COMPLEXITY – AI SYSTEMS
EN
IM
OFFER DIFFERENT OPPORTUNITIES AND
THREATS TO THE PROFESSION IN THE SCOPE,
EC

BREADTH AND STRUCTURE OF THE SERVICES

THEY OFFER THE INDUSTRY. AS AI SYSTEMS
EVOLVE, SO WILL THEIR INTEGRATION TO THE
SP

DAILY WORK OF ALL PROFESSIONALS AND,

EVENTUALLY, EVEN ARCHITECTS. <<

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46 MACHINE LEARNING

JOBS VERSUS TASKS

When Richard and Daniel Susskind argued in their 2015 book, The Future of the
Professions, that artificial intelligence would eventually replace society’s need for
professionals, architects were understandably concerned. Ours is a precarious
profession, smaller, less politically powerful and certainly less remunerated
than our equally threatened brethren in law or medicine, who will certainly put
up a bigger fight before allowing themselves to be automated out of existence.
The Susskinds declared, right at the outset of their treatise, that

>> … we are on the brink of a period of fundamental and irreversible change in

the way that the expertise of specialists is made available in society. Technology
will be the main driver of this change. And in the long run, we will neither need

and before.1 <<

EN
nor want professionals to work in the way that they did in the twentieth century

They observed that society established professionals to dispense expertise,

IM
and in doing so those professionals horde expert information, control the
access to it and deploy it in ways that can be easily automated by an intelligent
machine. Radiologists will give way to algorithms who can more patiently and
EC

accurately read diagnostic images; attorneys will no longer be needed to search

documents for evidence, prepare routine legal arrangements or even represent
clients in disputes; and architects will not be needed to design, document or
help build projects.2
SP

As I write in 2021, we are six years past this declaration of extinction, with no
significant encroachment by super-intelligent machines on the work of any
of these disciplines. Best not get too comfortable, however, as technological
change comes much more slowly to the building industry in general, and
architecture in particular.3

The encroachment on architects and the services we provide is probably

better described in Daniel Susskind’s subsequent book, where he argues
that it is likely that discrete tasks rather than entire jobs will be eliminated by
computers. He extrapolates from the work of economists David Autor, Frank
Levy and Richard Murnane, called the ‘ALM hypothesis’, drawing a distinction
between entire jobs versus tasks, and routine versus non-routine tasks. Routine
tasks (like many of those automated by mechanisation during the Industrial
Revolution) require what ALM theory called ‘explicit’ knowledge, which is easy to
document, explain and repeat. These are tasks based on ‘implicit’ knowledge –
requiring, for example, the creativity and judgement of professional architects –

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1.5 SCOPES OF SERVICE 47

which will not be automated because it is impossible to capture such work with
rules expressed with logical expressions such as algorithms.4

Susskind projects this thinking on to the current era of emergent AI to argue

that machines may well encroach into the domains of implicit knowledge:

>> The temptation is to say that because machines cannot reason like us, they
will never exercise judgement; because they cannot think like us, they will never
exercise creativity; because they cannot feel like us, they will never be empathetic.
And all that may be right. But it fails to recognize that machines still might be able
to carry out tasks that require empathy, judgement, or creativity when done by a
human being – by doing them in some entirely other fashion.5 <<

Today’s empiricist, deep-learning based systems are beginning to emulate

EN
creativity, but certainly not to the degree that, for example, one might be willing
to entrust that algorithm to replace wholesale the professional judgement of an
architect. In the meantime, it is more important to examine, through the lens
IM
of today’s professional services, structures where AI might affect the tasks of
professional work.
EC

MACHINES LEARNING ARCHITECTURE

If today’s most capable intelligent machines are based on various strategies for
deep learning, we can evaluate their capabilities by what they can be trained
SP

to do. Mark Greaves’s machine capability taxonomy, described in Chapter 1.2,

was derived from a canonical reference known to many teachers, Bloom’s
Taxonomy of learning, which defines a hierarchy of capabilities that build from
so-called ‘lower order thinking’ (like memorisation) to ‘higher order thinking’
(like creating something new). Bloom created this approach as a guide to
choosing pedagogical strategies in the classroom, and his students, Anderson
and Krathwohl, subsequently refined the hierarchy to the terms very familiar to
teachers today,6 and compiled in comparison in Table 1.5.1.

It can be argued that the most successful deep learning systems today – the
ones that invent new game strategies and thereby annihilate their human
opponents, credibly translate from English to Japanese or even compose
music or paintings – have somehow climbed Bloom’s pyramid, having gone
far past remembering or even testing data to ‘creating’ new concepts. Within
certain extremely limited contexts, like the specific rules of the game of Go,
for example, or the ‘learned’ patterns of thousands of paintings, perhaps this
is true. A machine programmed with a rigorous set of rules, however, can be

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48 MACHINE LEARNING

1.5.1: ANDERSON/
LEARNING BLOOM KRATHWOHL GREAVES
TAXONOMIES
DESIGN
HIGHER ORDER THINKING

FORMULATE
DEVELOP

DEFEND
JUDGE
SELECT

COMPARE

CREATE
DISCRIMINATE
TEST

SIMULATE
CHOOSE

EN
LOWER ORDER THINKING

DEMONSTRATE

EVALUATE
SKETCH/SOLVE

CLASSIFY
LOCATE
UNDERSTAND
IM
TRANSLATE

DEFINE
DUPLICATE
EC

MEMORISE

said to have a ton of explicit knowledge, and as such is ‘creating’ in only a very
limited way, particularly since the measures of success – winning the game or
SP

identifying a tumour on a radiograph – are so specific.

So let us assume, at least for the next few pages of this argument, that
Susskind’s thesis of task automation is the most likely implication of AI on
architectural practice in the foreseeable future, and that selected tasks within
the services that the profession provides may well be augmented, accelerated
or even replaced by an intelligent computer. Susskind asserts that those tasks
are easy to identify: they serve explicit goals that can be easily measured (to
determine success) and there needs to be a lot of data for the machine to learn
how to achieve the goal.7 One might argue that a wide array of architectural
tasks might fit this bill, including questions such as: ‘Does this project meet the
fire safety code?’ or ‘Does this ceiling plenum accommodate all the building
services?’ With enough data and proper training, could a computer achieve
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

these goals? Or, even better, not just answer the question but generate the
required design solutions to meet those needs?

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1.5 SCOPES OF SERVICE 49

Why not? That stuff either fits in the ceiling plenum or not, and those doors
either have the right fire rating and swing in the correct direction, or they do not.
Assuming our deep-learning AI could study enough ceilings and exit corridors, it
should be able to learn right from wrong, and correct from negligent.

If only it were that simple, we could start building architectural intelligence into
machines right away. However, there is another dimension to task automation,
what Stuart Russell calls hierarchical planning and management:

>> Intelligent behavior over long time scales requires the ability to plan and
manage activity hierarchically, at multiple levels of abstraction – all the way
from doing a PhD (one trillion actions) to a single motor control command
sent to one finger as a part of typing a single character in the application cover
letter.8 <<

EN
In order to achieve specific goals, even those that require explicit knowledge
and have clear, measurable outcomes, an intelligent machine must be able to
IM
deploy a hierarchy of (automated) tasks in an integrated order to reach that
goal, and in doing so assure that the tasks work in concert towards the defined
objective. Very few of the obligations of the architect today, even those reliant
EC

only on explicit knowledge, can be automated in this way, and as such it is

unlikely that large swathes of design service will be satisfactorily automated in
the near to middling future.
SP

ARCHITECTURAL SERVICES
Modern architects deliver their services in a prototypical continuum that begins
with project definition and extends through design to construction. In the UK, such
services are well-defined by the RIBA Plan of Work,9 and in the United States as
‘Basic Services’ by the AIA’s Owner-Architect Agreement B101.10 Each are compared
in the diagram in Figure 1.5.2.
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

In general, each scope prescribes a route through a standard set of tasks that can
be described in in categories like Project Definition, Design, Production and so forth.
Each phase of the work is comprised of a series of subtasks that differ by phase and
are modulated based on the expectations, deliverables and professional standards
that govern the architect’s services. These subtasks themselves can be categorised
into general buckets like Practice Management, Project Management, etc, and they
span across the phases of service. A rough mapping of a sample of such tasks,
aligned with service categories, can be found in Figure 1.5.3.

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50 MACHINE LEARNING

STANDARD SCOPES OF SERVICE

0 1 2 3
RIBA (UK) STRATEGIC PREPARATION CONCEPT SPATIAL
DEFINITION + BRIEFING DESIGN COORDINATION

PD SD DD
AIA (US) PRELIMINARY DESIGN, SCHEMATIC DESIGN
PROGRAMMING DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

SERVICE CATEGORIES
DEFINITION

DESIGN

PRODUCTION

PROCUREMENT

CONSTRUCTION

OPERATION
EN
IM
1.5.2: If we look at these task components through a lens that combines Susskind’s
RIBA AND
EC

‘clear goals and lots of data’ criteria and Russell’s task hierarchy, and includes
AIA SCOPE OF
SERVICES the ALM’s tasks that require implicit knowledge, we can start sorting the service
work of architects by likelihood of empiricist automation.
SP

Let us call any task component that can be easily defined with a measurable
goal and executed through explicit logic as ‘procedural’, those that require an
intelligent integration of procedural tasks to reach a goal, even a measurable
one, as ‘integrative’ and those that are inherently creative, subjective and/
reliant on implicit knowledge as ‘perceptive’. Figure 1.5.3 attempts to categorise
each component on this continuum, from procedural through integrative to
perceptive, depending on the work necessary to complete each task component.

As the coded bars suggest, there is very little that today’s architects do, even
at this relatively detailed level of examination, that can be characterised as
easily automatable. In fact, much of the technology of today is procedural
(including every piece of software we use), all of which is deployed in the
service of higher order tasks they accomplish. Eliminating humans from the
architectural equation is going to require an enormous jump in capability,
climbing the Bloom Taxonomy while combining those capabilities to accomplish
hierarchically complex objectives. This suggests that architects would better
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1.5 SCOPES OF SERVICE 51

4 5 6 7
TECHNICAL NOT MANUFACTURING HANDOVER USE
DESIGN USED + CONSTRUCTION

CD PR CA NOT POE POST

CONSTRUCTION PROCUREMENT CONSTRUCTION USED OCCUPANCY
DOCUMENTS CONTRACT ADMIN EVALUATION

EN
IM
spend time strategising which procedural aspects of practice might best benefit
EC

from autonomous processes of AI, rather than worrying that our work will be
replaced wholesale by capable machines.

AI-SUPPORTING SERVICES
SP

We can excerpt a few sample tasks from the list in Figure 1.5.3 in order to test
this thesis that selected responsibilities in the project process are more suited
to autonomous technology than others. Choosing a few examples that are
primarily procedural by using our classifications above, I speculate on how AI
systems might work in concert with their human architectural counterparts.

What this quick sketch problem suggests is that, at least in the near term, AI
systems will be limited in scope, require enormous amounts of what is currently
unavailable data, and likely augment, rather than eliminate, the central jobs of
architects. This is a reassuring conclusion in the near term, but bears further
consideration as AI systems evolve, in theory, from empiricist to cognitive
capabilities.

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52 MACHINE LEARNING

STANDARD SCOPES OF SERVICE

0 1 2 3
RIBA (UK) STRATEGIC PREPARATION CONCEPT SPATIAL
DEFINITION + BRIEFING DESIGN COORDINATION

PD SD DD
AIA (US) PRELIMINARY DESIGN, SCHEMATIC DESIGN
PROGRAMMING DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

SERVICE CATEGORIES
DEFINITION
DESIGN
PRODUCTION
PROCUREMENT
CONSTRUCTION
OPERATION

EN
TASK COMPONENTS
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

OBTAINING WORK

GETTING, ASSIGNING, MANAGING STAFFING

IM
MONITORING PRACTICE FINANCIAL HEALTH

SETTING BUSINESS STRATEGY

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

MANAGING PRACTICE OPERATIONS

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION

EC

MANAGING PROJECT STAFFING RESOURCES

ASSIGNING AND COORDINATING WORK

MAINTAINING BUDGETS AND SCHEDULES

COORDINATING CONSULTANTS AND OTHERS

SP

IDEATION DESIGN GENERATION

ANALYSING AND UNDERSTANDING THE BRIEF

GENERATING ALTERNATIVES

EVALUATING AND SELECTING ALTERNATIVES

DOCUMENTING DESIGN DECISIONS

RESOLVING CONFLICTING REQUIREMENTS

TECHNICAL PRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS

DETERMINING CONFORMANCE TO THE BRIEF

EVALUATING AND INTERGRATING

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

PERFORMING ENGINEERING ANALYSIS

EVALUATING AND MANAGING PROJECT COSTS

COORDINATING SPATIAL AND TECHNICAL SYSTEMS

PRODUCING TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION

REVIEWING AND APPROVING TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS

REVIEWING CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS

CLIENT AND REGULATORY MANAGEMENT

MEETING, MANAGING CLIENTS/DECISIONS

COORDINATING WITH REGULATORS

INTERFACING WITH PUBLIC/COMMUNITIES

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1.5 SCOPES OF SERVICE 53

1.5.3:
TASK
4 5 6 7 COMPONENTS
TECHNICAL NOT MANUFACTURING HANDOVER USE IN
DESIGN USED + CONSTRUCTION TRADITIONAL
SCOPES OF
CD PR CA NOT POE POST SERVICE
CONSTRUCTION PROCUREMENT CONSTRUCTION USED OCCUPANCY
DOCUMENTS CONTRACT ADMIN EVALUATION

PROCEDURAL

EN PROCEDURAL
TO INTEGRATIVE
INTEGRATIVE
IM
INTEGRATIVE
TO PERCEPTIVE
PERCEPTIVE
EC
SP

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54 MACHINE LEARNING

1.5.4:
TASK COMPONENT GOAL METRIC PROPOSED AI
AI
POSSIBILITIES PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
ACROSS TASKS
OBTAINING WORK CAPTURE AS MANY WIN RATE MONITORS SUSPECT AND
NEW PROJECTS PROSPECT PROJECTS,
AS POSSIBLE DETERMINES KEY
CHARACTERISTICS, TAGS
PROJECTS THAT ARE MORE
LIKELY TO BE OBTAINED.

GETTING, OPTIMISE STAFF EXAMINES STAFFING

ASSIGNING, THE USE OF UTILISATION ASSIGNMENTS OF ALL PAST
MANAGING STAFF ACROSS PROJECTS, PROPOSES STAFF
STAFFING ASSIGNMENTS BY TASKS, IDENTIFIES
EMERGENT PROBLEMS.

MONITORING ASSURE PROFIT EVALUATES ALL PAST

EN
PRACTICE FINANCIAL AND OVERHEAD PROJECT MANAGEMENT
FINANCIAL HEALTH RECORDS, SUPPORTS
HEALTH FEE PROPOSALS, FLAGS
PROBLEMS IN OPERATION
PROJECTS

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND COORDINATION

IM
MAINTAINING CONFORM PROJECT HOURLY RATE, BASED ON PAST

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
BUDGETS AND TIME, STAFF TARGET PROFIT PERFORMANCE, MONITORS
SCHEDULES AND FINANCIAL BY PROJECT, PROJECT OPERATIONS,
EC

RESOURCES ARE UTILISATION PROJECTS OVERRUNS AND

ALIGNED CONFLICTS, PROJECTS
PROFIT, RECOMMENDS
CORRECTIONS

COORDINATING ASSURE DELIVERABLE MONITORS TIMING AND

CONSULTANTS CONSULTANTS SCHEDULES DETAIL OF CONSULTANT
SP

AND OTHERS PERFORM THEIR SUBMISSIONS, RECOMMENDS

WORK ACCURATELY TIMING OF SUBMISSIONS,
AND TIMELY FLAGS DISCONTINUITIES

IDEATION, DESIGN GENERATION

GENERATING EXPLORE THE NUMBER OF RECOMMENDS VARIABLES

ALTERNATIVES SOLUTION VIABLE BASED ON PROJECT TYPE,
OPPORTUNITIES ALTERNATIVES EVALUATES PREVIOUS
SELECTED SCHEMES,
EXCERPTS SUCCESSFUL
SUB-COMPONENTS, DEFINES
SOLUTION SPACE

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1.5 SCOPES OF SERVICE 55

TASK COMPONENT GOAL METRIC PROPOSED AI

IDEATION, DESIGN GENERATION

EVALUATING FIND THE BEST NUMBER OF HELPS EVALUATE TRADE-

AND SELECTING ALTERNATIVE VIABLE OFFS, DETERMINES
ALTERNATIVES SOLUTIONS ALTERNATIVES PROMISING PATTERNS IN
ALTERNATIVE GENERATION,
PROVIDES OBJECTIVE
EVALUATION OF SOLUTIONS

TECHNICAL PRODUCTION AND ANALYSIS

DETERMINING CONFIRM VARIANCE EXAMINES DESIGN

CONFORMANCE TO THE DESIGN FROM BRIEF DELIVERABLES AND MAPS TO
THE BRIEF CONFORMS TO THE PARAMETERS PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS
PERFORMANCE (AREA, BUDGET, OF THE BRIEF AND FLAGS
TARGETS IN THE VOLUME) DISCONTINUITIES;

EN
BRIEF RECOMMENDS REMEDIATION
BASED ON PAST SOLUTIONS

EVALUATING ASSURE THE TARGET GENERATES ESTIMATES,

AND MANAGING PROJECT VALUE OR MONITORS CONFORMANCE,

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
PROJECT COSTS CONFORMS TO THE CONSTRUCTION RECOMMENDS COST
CONSTRUCTION COST TARGET ALIGNMENT STRATEGIES
IM
BUDGET BUDGET

COORDINATING ASSURE SYSTEMS VALID IDENTIFIES SPATIAL

SPATIAL AND WORK IN 3D CONFLICTS AND CONFLICTS, SOLVES SIMPLE
EC

TECHNICAL SPACE IN INTERFERENCES PROBLEMS, ELIMINATES

SYSTEMS CONCERT INVALID CONFLICTS,
SUGGESTS SOLUTIONS FOR
IMPORTANT CONFLICTS

REVIEWING ALIGN PERCENTAGE OF EVALUATES INPUTS FROM

CONSTRUCTION CONSTRUCTION CONSTRUCTION CONSTRUCTION SITE,
SP

PROGRESS PROGRESS COMPLETION, IDENTIFIES INSTALLATION

WITH TIME ACCURACY OF DISCONTINUITIES,
AND PAYMENT INSTALLATION COMPUTES VALUES OF
SCHEDULES INSTALLATION, ASSESSES
CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE

CLIENT AND REGULATORY MANAGEMENT

COORDINATING ASSURE THE PERMITS AND EVALUATES CODE

WITH REGULATORS PROJECT APPROVALS CONFORMANCE, IDENTIFIES
CONFORMS TO ACHIEVED DISCONTINUITIES,
REGULATORY RECOMMENDS VARIANCES
CONSTRAINTS

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56 MACHINE LEARNING

PRESENT, NEAR FUTURE AND BEYOND

Empiricist AI systems that subscribe to the Susskind definition are beginning
to appear in today’s ‘BuildTech’ marketplace, and many focus on narrowly
drawn procedures that demand clearly measurable goals, explicit logic
and plenty of data. The table below describes a selection of some of these
companies that are emerging as of mid-2021:

1.5.5: COMPANY GOAL LOGIC DATA

AI-BASED
START-UPS IN SPACEMAKER AI OPTIMISE MULTI- ADJUST BUILDING SITE PLANS AND
ARCHITECTURE, UNIT BUILDING DIMENSIONAL ANALYTICAL
2021 CONFIGURATIONS PARAMETERS TO OUTPUTS
ON A SITE OPTIMISE USE AND OF SPACE USE
CONFIGURATION

EN
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

PLANIT IMPACT MEASURE AND REDUCE TRANSLATE ENERGY MODELS,

ENERGY AND WATER BUILDING USAGE DATA, SITE
USE IN A BUILDING CHARACTERISTICS INFRASTRUCTURE
INTO ENERGY INFORMATION
IM
AND STORMWATER
INPUTS AND
OUTPUTS
EC

JOIN ORGANISE, ANALYSE AND COST ESTIMATING

OPTIMISE, AND MANAGE COST HISTORY, LOCAL
CONTROL PROJECT INPUTS AND ECONOMIC
CONSTRUCTION COSTS PROJECT HISTORY CONDITIONS,
FROM CONCEPT TO TOWARD COST MARKET
COMPLETION TARGETS INFORMATION
SP

ENVELOPE DETERMINE THE TRANSLATE ZONING CODES,

MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE BUILDING ZONING PARAMETRIC
BUILDABLE AREA ON REGULATIONS IN BUILDING
AN URBAN SITE TO BUILDING TEMPLATES
CONFIGURATIONS

As these systems become more capable, collecting data and building complex,
correlative data structures within their neural networks, it is likely that their
logics will expand to a wider range of targeted tasks across the architect’s
responsibilities. Russell suggests that new ideas were often attributable to
‘the three ineffable I’s: intuition, insight, and inspiration’.11 Procedural AI will
augment these critical (perceptual) components of professional judgement,
making the architect’s services increasingly reliant upon, and validated by,
analysis and data. One can imagine a day where the architect, having fully
explored a range of options for the configuration of site – including the resulting
performance data about rental area, storm water draining, zoning conformance
and even construction cost – can recommend with greater confidence a

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1.5 SCOPES OF SERVICE 57

decision that they chose with the assistance of a procedural AI. These systems
will remain, however, limited to the lower rungs of Bloom’s ladder of higher
order thinking – analysis, with perhaps a touch of evaluation – since creation
will continue to require the integration of a wide range of information, decisions
and competency. Empirical AI is highly unlikely to reach the top rung.

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
Beyond the near-term future, the architect’s services will need to respond to an
evolving set of new expectations and constraints, including:

» the automation of construction

» the increased use of data across all enterprises including those of
clients, and
» higher order design aspirations of social equity, environmental justice
and epidemiological safety.

EN
Few of the required services that architects will need to provide to address
these needs can be found in the traditional methodologies of today, be it
IM
through the RIBA Plan of Work or the AIA’s definition of ‘Basic Services’. Deeper
analytical insight, deployment of broad data evaluation and coordination of the
data-driven tasks of a design team with varied (and ever-increasing) numbers of
EC

consultants will require architects to integrate the AIs that will support this work,
in the same way in which they manage their engineers today. The challenges of
design tomorrow will be best faced and conquered by people, masters of the
ineffable I’s, whose ideas will drive the spaces, buildings and cities of tomorrow,
SP

even if we reach the distant goal of Domingos’ Master Algorithm.

1.5.6:
SPACEMAKER
AI, RECENTLY
ACQUIRED BY
AUTODESK FOR
$240 MILLION

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>> ARCHITECTS OPERATE IN THE SYSTEMS
OF PROJECT DELIVERY WITH SPECIFIC
RELATIONSHIPS AND OBLIGATIONS TO THEIR
CLIENTS, THEIR CONSULTING COLLABORATORS,
BUILDERS AND, ULTIMATELY, THE PUBLIC.
EN
IM
THEY DEPLOY A VARIETY OF TECHNICAL
SKILLS AND TOOLS, IN COMBINATION WITH
HEURISTIC STRATEGIES THAT COMBINE SKILLS
EC

OF JUDGEMENT, INTUITION AND LEADERSHIP,

TO FULFIL THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES. HOW
SP

DOES THE ROLE OF THE ARCHITECT AS A

PROFESSIONAL CHANGE AS TECHNOLOGY MOVES
TOWARD AUTONOMOUS COMPUTING? <<

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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59

SYSTEMS OF DELIVERY
The term ‘project delivery’ comprises two central aspects of making buildings:

1. The constellation of clients (who create demand for buildings and then
operate and use them), architects (who design them) and constructors
(who procure, fabricate, assemble and build them).
2. How those players are arrayed in a set of professional, informational,
financial and legal relationships defined by their respective roles,
responsibilities and ability to manage risk.

These two factors combine in typical ways according to a formal template

known as a project delivery model.1 In a perfect world, an appropriate

EN
delivery model would be determined that matched the demands of the project
and the capabilities of the participants. However, since power dynamics and
politics play as much a role in such decisions as technical considerations, the
choice of a delivery system is not always perfectly suited to the players or the
IM
project itself, introducing informational discontinuities at the beginning of a

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
project that often last for the duration, to little good effect.
EC
SP

DESIGN BID CONSTRUCTION DESIGN BUILD/ INTEGRATED 1.6.1:

BUILD MANAGEMENT NOVATION PROJECT DELIVERY A SELECTION
OF TYPICAL
DELIVERY
MODELS SEEN
TODAY

Over the course of the 20th century, and particularly as architecture evolved
into a bona fide profession, the key players in these delivery models
developed prototypical roles. Clients look to convert capital into a physical
asset, but lack the technical capability to do so, so they hire architects to
define their needs and contractors to translate that definition into a building.
For a variety of reasons that includes the misalignment of interests, these
systems yield unsatisfactory results2 and as such there has been extensive
experimentation in reforming them.

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60 MACHINE LEARNING

As described in Chapter 1.3, that misalignment, combined with the

prototypical roles of the architect and builder, sets each in opposition to
the other. Architects deliver professional services in the form of judgement
and are therefore largely in the business of creating and dispensing ideas
(the design), whereas contractors deliver products, and as such are primarily
tasked with making things (the building). These distinctions, in this context,
are important. If architects have the role of ‘proposing ideas’ and contractors
somehow ‘disposing them’, tensions will surely result. However, as the built
environment becomes increasingly digitised, the divide between designer and
builder feels unnecessarily artificial – serving neither the architect, builder, nor
their mutual client. While the production of many of the products that drive the
economy – automobiles, airplanes, consumer appliances, electronics – has been
digitally optimised for decades, the construction industry has trailed far behind.

EN
This gap is beginning to close with the industrialisation of construction.3
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

Thus, the autonomous opportunities of artificial intelligence are likely to have

an impact on both the services provided by architects in delivery systems and
IM
how those services are converted into physical artefacts of the built world.

The challenges of delivery dynamics in modern construction have been

EC

addressed by a variety of strategies, ranging from the reconfiguration of

relationships between design, cost estimating, construction and suppliers
as seen in models like public-private partnerships (PPP) and recent
experimentation with integrated project delivery (IPD), to attempts at
SP

revolutionary means of joint design/construction representation like BIM – or

even a combination of these together. The heart of the problem, however, was
identified as early as 1963 in a report prepared for the UK construction industry:

>> The basic decisions of construction control are often incomplete

or unduly rushed because necessary information is not available
sufficiently ahead of time, or is not complete enough. On many
occasions members of the construction team could, but do not,
ease this problem by supplying the data that would facilitate the
preparation of fuller and more useful information by others. Building
construction is remarkable among industrial activities for the lack of
detailed information about how it proceeds. Until more is known there
can be no basis for improvement. 4 <<

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1.6 DELIVERY, MEANS AND METHOD 61

Each of the players working to deliver a project requires information at

a specific level of resolution, at a certain time, and with a precise degree
of completeness. Each creates, consumes, deploys and/or distributes
this information in order to fulfil their obligations, make a profit and not
assume unmanageable risk. Projects are thus delivered in a constellation of
interdependent yet incompatible collections of information structures and
responsibilities. In the digital age, various technologies lurk below the surface
of delivery, hoping to smooth and improve it. AI is just now arriving to join
that crowded field of suitors. We can expect AI to augment – yet also possibly
replace – the capabilities of the architect, and to generate and organise the
informational structures that connect architecture to construction.

DESIGN INTENT

responsibility to the delivery process itself. That duty is best understood EN

At the centre of these questions is the definition of the architect’s fundamental

through a concept of ‘design intent’, defined by the RIBA Plan of Work as ‘(t)he
means by which the design team describes a Building System in a manner that
IM
allows a specialist subcontractor to design the system’.5 If you are wondering
who, exactly, is the designer of any given system in a building, you are not
alone. Architects and their collaborating consultants (engineers and the
EC

like) set out, at a level of detail necessary to be clear about their intentions
(whatever that may mean), information about how the design should look and
operate once it has been completed. There are numerous intermediate steps
necessary before ‘the design’ is ready to be realised in the field, including the
SP

specifics of materials and assemblies, the exact procedures and processes of

building (called the ‘means and methods’ of construction) and numerous other
decisions made by the contractors, both big and small. Broadly generalising
about the nature of modern construction on both sides of the Atlantic, it can
be charitably concluded that construction has become too technically complex
for a single entity – designers or builders – to be wholly responsible for it. Even
the smallest project has a coterie of subcontractors, product manufacturers
and material suppliers, and cost is always top of mind. In the most optimistic
characterisation of the ideal arrangement under these rules of engagement,
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

the architect sets out her ideas in sufficient detail to guide the builder, and the
contractor figures out all the specific particulars. Much is lost in translation.

It was not always such. In the late 18th century in the UK, and as long as 100 years
later in the US, the architect was wholly responsible for all aspects of construction.
Higgin and Jessop described the project delivery model in Figure 1.6.2.

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62 MACHINE LEARNING

1.6.2:
PROJECT
DELIVERY IN
THE UK, 18TH
CENTURY6

contract

service
MEASURERS
function

MASTER MASTER MASTER MASTER

BRICK LAYER ECT. CARPENTER ETC. MASON ETC. PLUMBER ETC.

EN MEASURERS
IM
Alas, worries about and failures of project coordination and management
of budgets, along with the increasing complexity of urban- and industrial-
age construction, brought things more into current alignment by the 19th
EC

century7, with only slight elaboration in the 20th, as seen in Figure 1.6.3.

Note the appearance of the quantity surveyor (to manage costs) and the
main contractor (to procure and coordinate the work), both roles that reflect
SP

current practice. As these models evolved, the level of granularity and

resolution of information necessary to build ever increased, and it became
apparent that as the project’s interface with the procurement process, the
contractor and her minions – including subcontractors who would fabricate
building systems – was best to ‘finalise’ the design itself.8

As the building industry has moved from drawings to BIM, the inherent
tensions of such a system were exacerbated rather than calmed by the
availability of 3D information. Architects complained that they had neither the
expertise nor the fee to provide extreme construction detail in their design
intent BIM data, and builders declared that the resulting BIM deliverables
were unsuitable for building. So despite the insertion of a technology designed
to increase transparency and collaboration, the age-old pathologies persist.

Yet there are other forces at play that may, through technology, finally close
this ancient divide. In a market that is increasingly pressed towards more

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1.6 DELIVERY, MEANS AND METHOD 63

contract 1.6.3:
1st Half of the 19th Century PROJECT
CLIENT Only one DELIVERY IN
relationship
THE UK, 19TH
at a time
AND 20TH
CENTURIES 9

ARCHITECT

QUANTITY BILL
SURVEYOR
(MASONRY,
MAIN SUB TILERS,
CONTRACTOR TRADES PAINTERS
ETC.)

EN
(BRICKLAYING,
CARPENTRY,
PLUMBING ETC.)
IM
Late 19th Century to Present Day
EC

NOT NOMINATED
PLUMBER
SP

FLOORS

QUANTITY ETC.
SURVEYOR

CONCRETE
NOMINATED

STEEL

CONSULTANTS
ENGINEERING
SERVICES
advice (one at a time) ETC.

contract SUB CONTRACTORS

control
function

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64 MACHINE LEARNING

efficiency and productivity, and dissatisfied with the results of traditional

delivery approaches, the move to digital fabrication and industrial processes
in construction is inevitable. This is particularly true as automation moves the
industry towards what is now being called ‘industrialised construction’ and
accelerated using manufacturing strategies for building.10 There is an obvious,
resulting demand for higher quality digital deliverables to smooth the path.
However, will architects and their consulting engineers deliver them? And can
AI play a part in closing the professional divide?

PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
This question must be examined in the context of all the obligations of the
architect, informational and otherwise. To do so, we can turn the traditional
delivery model diagrams found in Figure 1.6.1 inside-out to look at the specific
connections of the architect in any such structure, depicted in Figure 1.6.2.
With our hypothetical architect in the middle of her relationships, we can see
four distinct roles required (see Figure 1.6.4).
EN
IM
An agent of the owner, who acts as the client’s intermediary in the process,
generating the design and stewarding it, armed with descriptions of her
‘design intent’, through construction and acting as the owner’s proxy to assure
EC

the building conforms to that intent.

A leader of the design team, who orchestrates and integrates the work of
various consultancies in the service of creating a coherent, coordinated and
SP

accurate design which will be passed along to the builders.

A guide to the builder, to articulate the goals of the project and help the
construction team to interpret, clarify and ultimately review and approve
the design intent on behalf of the client as it is translated into more detailed
information to support construction. A subcontractor, responsible for a given
building system, will often create very detailed information in support of the
fabrication of that system (shop drawings) but the architect must review and
approve such proposals before the fabricator may begin.

A protector of the public, including both the specific users of the project as
well as those with whom the architect has no specific contractual obligations
but nonetheless is responsible for the health, safety and welfare of those who
inhabit her design.

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1.6 DELIVERY, MEANS AND METHOD 65

1.6.4:
ARCHITECT’S
RELATIONSHIPS
IN DELIVERY
MODELS*

Building
Supply
Chain
STANDARD
OF CARE
Builder Client

GUIDE 3 2 AGENT/ EXPERT

MANAGER /LEADER 4

Project
ARCHITECT

EN
1 PROTECTOR

Users
IM
Consulting
Team
Public
EC
SP

* For further detail on this diagram,

see Figure 2.2.1.

The architect thus either generates, reviews or is subject to the implications

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

of the vast amounts of information that swirl around even a simple building
enterprise. That information, despite efforts to rigorously standardise it,
manifests in a wide variety of formats, versions and levels of detail, and must
be understood, coordinated and often translated from source to recipient to
be useful. An immediate opportunity of AI – one that is yet unexplored as of
this writing – would be to try to ‘understand’ the relationships between these
data and help deploy them in a structured, accessible and efficient manner.

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66 MACHINE LEARNING

RELATIONSHIPS, DELIVERY AND COMPUTATION

So perhaps AI will one day rationalise the ebbs and flows of digital information
that follow the relationships and obligations of the architect as a project is
delivered. If enough data can be organised and made accessible, this would seem
a prime opportunity for the next generation of empiricist, deep-learning systems
that are so good at finding patterns and connections between data points.

But how might AI, in the immediate future, either augment or eliminate the
jobs of architects as defined in these four roles? Some early speculation is
summarised in Table 1.6.5.

1.6.5:
ROLE AUGMENTATION BY AI ELIMINATION BY AI

EN
EXAMPLE
OF AI
AGENT OF THE OWNER DEMONSTRATED DESIGN GENERATION OF COMPLETE
IMPLICATIONS RESULTS BASED ON DESIGN SCHEMES
FOR THE LARGE REPRESENTATIVE
DELIVERY DATA AND AI-GENERATED
ROLE OF THE CONCLUSIONS
IM
ARCHITECT
LEADER OF COHERENT DISTRIBUTION INTEGRATION OF
THE DESIGN TEAM OF USEFUL INFORMATION ENGINEERING AND OTHER
TO THE POINT OF WORK REPRESENTATIONS OF THE
PROJECT AND COORDINATION

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
EC

OF THEIR WORK

GUIDE TO THE DESIGN DATA AUGMENTED AUTOMATIC GENERATION

DESIGN INFORMATION BY PROCEDURAL OF CONSTRUCTION
TO THE BUILDER INFORMATION FOR DOCUMENTATION, BASED ON
ASSEMBLY AND INFORMATION DEMANDS OF
SP

CONSTRUCTION THE BUILDER

PROTECTOR OF THE LIFE SAFETY ANALYSIS CODE CHECKING AND

PUBLIC’S HEALTH, AND COMPLIANCE CERTIFICATION FOR
SAFETY AND WELFARE EVALUATION PERMIT

The importance of guiding the development and outcomes of emergent AI

systems is apparent in the contrasts between augmentation and elimination
scenarios. While autonomous algorithms may help architects to generate
alternatives and evaluate them, it is technically a very short step to allowing
those systems to make final decisions about the design, essentially leaving the
architect (or someone else) as just the operator. Less likely is the possibility
that the coordination of the design team itself would be entirely replaced
by automation, as this task is as much about human leadership as technical
integration. The move towards industrialised construction creates demand
for far more data than just traditional ‘design intent’, in the form of higher

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1.6 DELIVERY, MEANS AND METHOD 67

resolution design data and procedural templates for sequences of fabrication

and assembly. These may be automated by virtue of intelligent algorithms
in the future and have the potential to eliminate huge swathes of the
architect’s role – and compensation – as a result. Finally, in what is perhaps a
central existential threat that will be examined in Chapter 2.3, the architect’s
fundamental responsibility for the public’s health, safety and welfare, as
defined by the understanding, interpretation and implementation of planning
and safety codes, is being automated by companies like UpCodes even today.
Once that job is done by computers, the need for professional certification by
a person – rather than a machine – is called into question.

MEANS AND METHODS

So it appears now that design, construction, and building operation processes

EN
are rapidly digitising; that the obligations of the players in delivery are likely
to evolve accordingly, particularly those of designers and builders; that
these processes are creating a lot of data that could be consumed by hungry
AI systems looking to learn how to (charitably) help; and that the biggest
IM
gulf in the digital divide is between design and construction, especially as
construction becomes more like manufacturing.
EC

So what is the most useful focus for AI in delivery from the architect’s
perspective? Automation algorithms are good at memorialising processes (like
how to count the number of windows in a building), empiricist autonomous
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

processes are good at examining data for patterns and, eventually, cognitive
SP

systems might stitch the two together. Bridging the gap from design intent
to construction execution is the most likely target of the combination of all
of these AI-based technological options, in that it will require a broad set of
capabilities beyond a single technology and could, potentially, improve the
overall delivery of projects in the most dramatic and immediate way.

As BIM was beginning to focus the attention of the building industry on

process revolution, the labour theorist, Paolo Tombesi, put forth a proposition
about the changing role of the architect called ‘flexible specialisation’. He
argued that the making of a building – in essence, the underlying delivery
model – was comprised of a constellation of processes and obligations which
required the technical and synthetic design skills of an architect, and as such
the profession should move away from slavish dedication to the design of
objects to a broader, more dynamic set of responsibilities in project delivery
(see Figure 1.6.6).11

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68 MACHINE LEARNING

While Tombesi did not speculate beyond the technological possibilities of

BIM, his argument extends easily to circumstances where certain data and
procedural aspects of his process nodes are automated in part by AI, and
the architect assumes the role of deploying these capabilities to orchestrate
and integrate the results. Further, the variety of data flows implied by
delivery structure of flexible specialisation demand a rationalising platform to
organise, normalise and monitor that information, a powerful potential use of
AI’s capabilities.

Finally, beyond the immediate interdependent processes of construction lies

an extensive supply chain of both raw and processed materials. The architect
and historian, Andrew Rabeneck, has gone so far as to argue that designers
and builders are mere ‘contingent players with the new political economy’

EN
of the capital flows of construction commodities such as steel or cement.12
Control of the intellectual property of industrial production was, according
to Rabeneck, assumed by those who took on the risk of development of
those systems and, as a result, ‘industrial control over scientific knowledge
IM
and processes grew steadily among material and product manufacturing
companies’.13 He extends this argument to suggest that this shifting of
knowledge and understanding of the supply chain and its components is part
EC

of the larger loss of value and influence of architects themselves.

As the means and methods of construction are increasingly industrialised, it

is possible that Rabeneck’s purported professional descent of architectural
SP

prowess may accelerate, further widening the gap between intent and
execution. This possibility strengthens the argument that the tools of AI
– which could significantly enhance the architect’s understanding of the
processes, procedures and informational requirements of construction, and
allow that insight to inform and support design – can be deployed to either
augment or eliminate the architect in the systems of delivery.

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1.6 DELIVERY, MEANS AND METHOD 69

1.6.6:
TOMBESI’S
CONCEPT OF
FLEXIBLE
SPECIALISATION

Building
EN
IM
design
EC
SP

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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70 MACHINE LEARNING

EN
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

IM
EC
SP

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71
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

EN
IM
>> THE BUILDING ENTERPRISE DEPENDS
UPON A SERIES OF NETWORKS ACTUALISED
TO YIELD RESULTS. PROFESSIONAL
TEAMS OF CONSULTANTS AND BUILDERS
EC

ARE ONE SUCH NETWORK; THEIR RISK

RELATIONSHIPS, ECONOMIC EXCHANGES AND
DATA NETWORKS ARE OTHER EXAMPLES.
HOWEVER, A THIRD SET OF NETWORKS –
SP

THE NEURAL NETWORKS THAT COMPRISE AI/

ML SYSTEMS – WILL SOON OVERLAY THESE
STRUCTURES AND TRANSFORM THEM. <<

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>> LIKE ALL TECHNOLOGY, AI IS LIKELY
TO PROVIDE NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR
VALUE CREATION AND PRODUCTIVITY WHILE
SIMULTANEOUSLY ELIMINATING THE NEED
FOR SOME TASKS PERFORMED BY HUMAN
EN
IM
ARCHITECTS. THE DANGERS OF TRADITIONAL
PRESSURES OF COMMODIFICATION MIGHT BE
OFFSET BY NEW CAPABILITIES, AND WITH
EC

THOSE CAPABILITIES, NEW OPPORTUNITIES

TO DELIVER VALUE – AND INCREASE
SP

PROFITABILITY – IN PRACTICE. <<

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73

Architects operate within the larger economic models of the building

industry, which has long struggled to create consistent value propositions
for its participants. Most buildings are produced under an economic dictum:
achieve the end product by optimising for the single variable of lowest
first cost. Clients often select architects by arbitraging fees for the lowest
price; architects then choose their consulting engineers in the same way.
Contractors are often chosen based upon lowest bid, passing that logic down
the entire supply chain to the far reaches of building product manufacturers,
fabricators and suppliers. The value of the resulting project to the participants
in its creation or, ultimately, the client, is not reflected in the economic deals
that actualise it. As artificial intelligence changes the capabilities, obligations
and outcomes of project architects, how might the economic propositions
evolve accordingly?

CANONICAL MODELS
EN
As came to be understood during the first Industrial Revolution, technology
disrupts patterns of employment and pay. Mechanised farm equipment
IM
displaced plough drivers and their oxen, and industrialised looms put hand
weavers out of business. This is a version of ‘creative destruction’, as defined
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

by the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter in the mid-20th century, where

EC

new economic systems – often catalysed by new technologies – destroy and

replace their predecessors, presumably improving economic performance
for everyone while doing so.1 And although these improvements may prove
temporary, as new competitors touting newer technologies enter the fray, the
SP

concept of creative destruction advancing the marketplace can be paired with

the so-called ‘canonical model’ of employment described by Daniel Susskind,
where ‘it was impossible for new technologies to make either skilled or
unskilled workers worse off; technological progress always raised everyone’s
wages, though at a given time some more than others’.2

If artificial intelligence is the catalyst for creative destruction in the practice of

architecture, then one can conclude that design jobs will be eliminated by the
capabilities it presumably assumes. The canonical economic model argues,
however, that those jobs are more than replaced by new ones necessary to
support the creation and support of the new technologies. So you might have
lost your job working in an architect’s office doing zoning and code analysis
and planning studies, but you (or someone else) will surely be hired by one
of the many AI-based companies creating software to do that particular
task.3 And, in theory at least, the quality of the resulting design work created

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74 MACHINE LEARNING

by the surviving practitioners will improve by virtue of the tremendous new

capabilities of software-assisted design, and the cost of your house or school
will decline as a result.

Those challenges are heightened by the possibilities of AI-related

replacement. Susskind further argues in A World Without Work that it is not
entire jobs that will be supplanted by AI, but rather specific tasks within those
jobs. He suggests that technology will continue to spread the gap between
skilled labour (not easily replaced by machines) and unskilled jobs (where
many tasks may be automated). Architects are generally considered skilled
workers, but there are broad swathes of our jobs subject to such automation,
as suggested in Figure 1.5.3.

EN
The challenge, as always, is converting that resulting potency into actual value
that is reflected in the economics of practice. Technology notwithstanding,
it has always been difficult for architects to both improve the quality of our
services and the amount of money we are paid to provide them.
IM
EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS
Two relatively recent technological shifts in practice demonstrate this
EC
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

difficulty. As computer-aided drafting tools such as AutoCAD© came to the

fore, largely in the early 1990s, the capital investment in both hardware and
software was significant.4 To defray these costs, firms often would charge
clients an hourly fee for ‘CAD services’ that was treated as a project expense
SP

not unlike travel or blueprinting. Over time, however, clients got wise to
this idea and refused to pay these charges, arguing that the benefits of the
computer’s precision and efficiency accrued to the architect, not themselves.
Of course, this point of view did not reflect the greater accuracy or consistency
of CAD-generated deliverables, nor the increased complexity of design
solutions they were able to create, and architects (once again) failed to convert
the improvement in the quality of their services to an increase in their fees,
which continued to be pressured by lowest-first-cost competition.

The second technological wave brought along by BIM had similar, if

structurally distinct, results, at least here in the United States. Figure 2.1.2
documents performance of the American architectural profession in the two
years on either side of the great economic crisis of 2009. Net revenue for
all AIA firms in 2005 was approximately $27 billion, and the profession had
returned to 96% of that revenue number ($26.4 billion) by 2013, signalling a

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2.1 ECONOMICS, COMPENSATION AND VALUE 75

2.1.1:
A HAPPY CAD
OPERATOR AT
HIS STATION
IN THE
OFFICES OF
CESAR PELLI
& ASSOCIATES
(NOW PELLI
CLARKE PELLI
ARCHITECTS),
C. 2000

recovery. If net revenue is a rough proxy for work produced, then that same
amount of effort was produced by 16,000 fewer employees (about 11%) at the
same time that BIM adoption rose almost four-fold:
EN
IM
2.1.2:
PERCENTAGE OF
COMPARING
FIRMS USING BIM NUMBER OF
REVENUE, BIM
EC

NET REVENUE ON BILLABLE ARCHITECTURAL

YEAR ($ BILLIONS) PROJECTS POSITIONS ADOPTION AND
EMPLOYMENT IN
2005 27.5 10% 115,9000 TWO RECENT
YEARS5
2013 26.4 37% 99,800
SP
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

What the data seems to suggest is that these architects increased their
productive capacity, presumably by use of newer technology, by over 10% by
producing the same amount of work with far fewer people. Anecdotal data
from practitioners indicate that while work volume increased steadily after the
Crisis, fee multiples stayed depressed, suggesting that these numbers may
not completely reflect the productivity gains of BIM technology. A more careful
analysis mapping profits, BIM adoption and a proxy for productivity (net fee
revenue per employee) in Figure 2.1.3 indicates that productivity accelerates
with BIM adoption but, sadly, profitability is unrelated. A missed opportunity to
be sure.

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76 MACHINE LEARNING

60% 58%

52% 383.8

50%
45%

43%
40% 333.3
39%
40% 37%

33%

282.7
30% 276.3 275.5 274.6 273.8
269.4 271.5 26%
263.4 29% 264.9 262.6 260.3
23% 27%
250.5 25% 21%
21% 20%
20% 237.6
18%
15%
18% 19%
212.7 12% 13%
14%
11% 10% 11%
10% 8% 9%
10%

EN
187.8 7%
5%

0%
162.9 0%
0%
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
IM
Comparison of Production, Profit and BIM Adoption in the US–2002 through 2019
Net Fee Revenue per Billable Employee ($000) Firm Profitablity Percentage of BIM Adoption
EC

2.1.3: So, here is a case where new technology (BIM) brought new capabilities
PRODUCTIVITY,
and efficiencies, yet it appears the profession did not directly benefit in any
PROFITABILITY
AND BIM tangible, economic way. If AI has similar implications, essentially shrinking
SP

ADOPTION6 the commoditised value of the architect’s services, a radically enfeebled

profession is likely to result. However, there are at least three strategies –
automation, analysis and prediction – made possible by the technical potency
of emergent AI that could help us to avoid this fate.

PRODUCTIVITY REDEFINED
The analysis above is an invented proxy for the putative improvements in
architectural productivity in the correlation between technology adoption (the
instrumentation) and the number of staff positions necessary to generate a
certain fee volume. There are no generally accepted measures for determining
such productivity, a result of both the intractable nature of the design process
and a general lack of attention of researchers to such questions, particularly
those in the professional associations.7 In my professional practice courses,
I pose this question slightly differently: if you are a manager of a design
process, exactly how long does it take to have a good idea, and then produce

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2.1 ECONOMICS, COMPENSATION AND VALUE 77

it? If design is a process of solving Horst Rittel’s ‘wicked problems’, then the
‘wicked’ nature of the process itself makes it difficult to precisely answer
this question, making the resulting projections of time, effort and expense
similarly intractable.

So perhaps any intelligent strategy for deploying AI tools for increased

productivity should take a different tack, in three dimensions – automation,
analysis and prediction – by combining the capabilities of AI as defined by
Greaves in Chapter 1.2, Figure 1.2.4.

Automation is intelligently replacing linear processes currently performed

by humans with AI-assisted algorithms that might learn those capabilities
as they ‘see’ more examples.

Analysis is creating more sophisticated means to measure and

understand the results and implications of a design decision.

Prediction is combining the capabilities of automation and analysis to

EN
IM
project a final result of such a decision, and in doing so learning, by virtue
of selections made by human designers, how to both select and optimise
a result.
EC

The diagram in Figure 2.1.4 sketches this relationship by examining a process

realm ripe for technology-driven productivity: checking a building design for
code compliance.
SP

The hypothetical designer of this AI-enabled future is struggling to validate

the building code compliance of her design, and is deploying a progressively
capable set of machine learning algorithms, which we will call a ‘Code
Evaluation System’, that combine both cognitive and empiricist strategies.
Early in the life of this system she has created a design, probably in BIM,
so the components can be easily identified spatially and typologically. The
system first identifies all the relevant life safety components relative to, say,
fire exiting, in her model; in this case, the doors and stairs, all of which must
be properly sized, oriented and configured. If the AI missed a component, the
architect identifies it manually, and the AI identifier learns over time to better
find and understand those elements.

Once this system has learned to find all the pieces of the building’s existing
components, it can move to ‘Part 2’ of this process – applying evaluative
algorithms to analyse the actual behaviour of each of the elements of the

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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78 MACHINE LEARNING

2.1.4:
THREE STEPS
EVALUATE SIMULATE GENERATE
TO AI-
ENHANCED
PRODUCTIVITY
AUTOMATE

2
Find every
door & stair
ANALYSE

3
Test
Check
dimensions
building
under stress

EN
IM
PREDICT

1
Generate archive-
Evaluate compliant schemes
EC

performance with alternatives

SP

design. Do the doors swing in the right direction? Do they have the proper
fire ratings? Are the stairs properly configured, within protective enclosures,
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

large enough to handle the number of occupants? This is the intersection

of automation, analysis and evaluation in Greaves’s terms, indicated in the
diagrams as ‘Part 1’.

Our machine learning Code Evaluation System is starting, with a combination

of rules-based algorithms and practice with its human operator, to learn
about the interaction of architectural elements necessary to make a safe
building. By extending this system with additional simulative capabilities – an
overlay of fire spread, smoke distribution and occupancy behaviour – it can
move from the evaluation of individual elements to the behaviour of an entire
building, evaluating the comprehensive performance of that building under
the simulated conditions of duress. This is the intersection of analysis and
prediction with simulations, in Greaves’s terms, or ‘Part 2’ of the evolution of
our system.

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2.1 ECONOMICS, COMPENSATION AND VALUE 79

In the ultimate manifestation of this proposed system, ‘Part 3’ in our diagram,

the system has assembled a sufficiently robust understanding of the
combined characteristics of safe conditions in a building so that it has limited,
but ever-expanding, capabilities to generate a series of safety solutions from
the preliminary model presented by its architect master. If a number of such
architects are training such a progressively capable system, it will ‘learn’ over
time to optimise the answers.

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
The system proposed here has several salient characteristics:

» It is working on a discrete problem that is vexing, technical and

measurable in result.

» It is solving problems that do not implicate the architect’s design

»
abilities.
EN
If it works well, it saves time, effort and brainpower for the architect,
who can then, in theory, either convert the resulting work cycles into
IM
profit (by simply cashing them) or by applying them to improve the
‘wicked’ characteristics of the design itself. Either way, this architect
has converted the capabilities of her new AI-enabled design assistant
EC

into value, economic or otherwise.8

BEYOND PRODUCTIVITY AND PERFORMANCE

SP

A sufficiently effective set of AI tools, capable of both optioneering and

accurate prediction, brings the architect’s value proposition into an entirely
new realm, entirely decoupling compensation from the value of time sold and
allowing designers to be paid on the basis of the resulting performance of
their buildings. This is a tricky but potentially lucrative strategy where design
services are no longer a commoditised transaction in the delivery chain, but rather
tied closely to project behaviour. The resulting promises should not be bound
to issues of beauty, experience or aesthetics, but rather to the sorts of technical
behaviour that computers could be trained, over time, to accurately predict.

Productivity and process strategies notwithstanding, another immediate value

opportunity in a world increasingly dependent upon AI is the fuel for that
process itself – data, sometimes called ‘the new oil’.9 The building industry
is notorious for a lack of data standards, repositories or means for shared
access across its participants. Yet there is a hierarchy of provocative data that
will accumulate across the various dimensions of the building enterprise itself,
described graphically in Figure 2.1.5.

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80 MACHINE LEARNING

For our purposes, the centre of this universe is the data collected within the
architect’s office itself, which in sufficient quantity might be useful to the firm
in improving the capabilities of its AI systems. However, since such systems
require enormous amounts of data, it is more likely that architectural data per
se would be collected among the profession itself. Beyond that, training and
reference data for machine learning platforms could be aggregated at project
level, say by building type, or even across the design-to-build marketplace.
Eventually, all such data could exist in the context of the overall building
industry, including design, construction, procurement and operational
information, ultimately referenceable across all the players implementing AI.

2.1.5:
DATA
REALMS
EN
IM
WITH
EXCHANGE
VALUE IN CONSTRUCTION
CONTEXT
AECO
EC

PROJECT
REALM
SP

ARCHITECT
OFFICE
ARCHITECTURAL
PROFESSION

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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2.1 ECONOMICS, COMPENSATION AND VALUE 81

There is a tremendous economic value in such a proposed data reserve,

both as a source of insight and as employment. Training AI systems requires
coherent, consistent, ‘clean’ data and it has been argued that conforming data
requires as much, if not more, effort than building the AI software itself.10
As the ‘canonical model’ suggests, curating and managing this data is a likely
source of employment for architects, new roles emerging from the resulting
creative destruction.

Such data should not, however, be simply gifted to the industry, as it has
tremendous inherent value as well as potential risk of misuse. The creation
of a data trust, mediated and managed by an independent, non-profit
third party, could create the necessary platform for what will likely be huge
amounts of digital building information that will be created in the future,
fodder for capable AI systems.11

ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIC MODELS EN

If Susskind is right, the next decade will see an array of architectural tasks
IM
augmented, and in many cases supplanted, by AI systems. Whether entire
jobs will be replaced as a result is the subject of some debate. Mastering

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
a game like chess or Go – with very specific rules, precedents and a highly
EC

constrained context – is hardly a precondition for managing the various

tasks, responsibilities and synthetic processes that comprise the abilities of
any capable architect. It may be that, in the aggregate, the production and
analytic functions of practice will be replaced by autonomous computation
SP

to an extent that fewer architects will be required to design the world’s

environment. However, conversely, perhaps, released from the drudgery
of the mundane, the power of designers will intensify sufficiently so that
the influence and importance of architects and architecture will expand by
virtue of technology rather than be diminished by it. Careful and purposeful
planning at the intersection of technological innovation and process
improvement is the only way to make such an outcome a reality.

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>> ARCHITECTS HAVE TRADITIONALLY
BEEN HELD TO A COMMON LAW STANDARD
OF REASONABLE CARE, BASED ON THEIR
RESPONSIBILITY TO EXERCISE GOOD
JUDGEMENT IN CONTEXT. AS THOSE
EN
IM
RESPONSIBILITIES EVOLVE WITH MORE
INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY, HOW MIGHT LEGAL
STANDARDS, PUBLIC POLICY WITH REGARD
EC

TO BUILDING AND THE PERFORMANCE OF THE

ARCHITECT CHANGE ACCORDINGLY? <<
SP

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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83

While we await a wave of intelligent machines to change the architectural

profession, AI/ML technology is already in wide use to set insurance rates,
evaluate radiographic images, determine eligibility for loans and other
government benefits, even capture suspected criminals with facial recognition.
And given the inscrutable nature of these algorithms, which ‘teach themselves’
to generate results from pools of data (like hundreds of thousands of
insurance claims, or even millions of portraits of potential criminals scraped
from the internet), it is impossible to unpack the underlying logic by which
they make decisions. Worse, that logic is barely comprehensible to the
professionals that deploy it.

Attorney Michele Gilman represents indigent patients fighting for their

rights in the opaque US health system, a bureaucracy made even more
impenetrable now by its use of AI to allocate resources. This was exhibited in
a recent case in Baltimore, Maryland, as described in a recent article in MIT
Technology Review: EN
IM
>> Not until they were standing in the courtroom in the middle of
a hearing did the witness representing the state reveal that the
government had just adopted a new algorithm. The witness, a nurse,
EC

couldn’t explain anything about it. ‘Of course not – they bought it off
the shelf,’ Gilman says. ‘At least she’s a nurse, not a computer scientist.
She couldn’t answer what factors go into it. How is it weighted? What
are the outcomes that you’re looking for? So there I am with my
SP

student attorney, who’s in my clinic with me, and it’s like, “Oh, am I
going to cross-examine an algorithm?”’ 1 <<

This vignette elegantly captures the range of challenges that the regulators,
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

the public, the courts, architects and their clients face as the work of
professionals is automated: who or what is responsible for the implications of
decisions made by machines, and can they ever be sufficiently understood to
place the public’s welfare in their care?

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84 MACHINE LEARNING

THE DUTY OF CARE AND ITS RISKS

The United Kingdom and United States share a common law tradition
establishing the competency standard for architects (emphasis added):

>> The Architect/Consultant will exercise the reasonable skill, care

and diligence to be expected of an Architect/Consultant experienced
in the provision of such services for projects of a similar size, nature
and complexity to the Project. (RIBA Standard Professional Services
Contract 2018: Architectural Services) 2

The Architect shall perform its services consistent with the

professional skill and care ordinarily provided by architects

EN
practicing in the same or similar locality under the same or similar
circumstances. The Architect shall perform its services as expeditiously
as is consistent with such professional skill and care and the orderly
progress of the Project. (AIA Document B101–2017: Standard Form of
IM
Agreement Between Owner and Architect) 3 <<

In each case, the measure of the architect’s performance is how it might

EC

compare to that of other competent practitioners in the same circumstances.

This standard is not delineated by statute in any other form, but rather
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

determined in a court of law after testimony by expert witnesses who posit

correct professional behaviour and application of appropriate precedent.
SP

As examined in Chapter 1.3, the relationship between architects and the

public is essentially an exchange of trust: architects are empowered to
make important decisions about the public’s health, safety and welfare,
and as such enjoy special privileges of this professional status; presumably
influence, autonomy and compensation. In exchange, they must take personal
responsibility for their actions and cannot delegate that responsibility in the
manner of corporations, where the company, rather than the individual, is
culpable for bad decisions.

Public policy dictates that a design professional be involved in a building

project precisely to assure that the public’s welfare is protected in the
built environment and, at least for now, there is a responsible person held
accountable. The requirements differ slightly between the US and the UK: in
the latter, a ‘principal designer’ must be specified for any project involving
more than one construction contractor4 whereas in most US jurisdictions, a
licensed architect must design any building for human habitation larger than
approximately 275 sqm.5

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2.2 LAWS, POLICY AND RISK 85

In performing her duties, the architect assumes two types of risk:

1. Business risk: the possibility that the obligations of service will require
more resources than available in the contract, particularly fees.
2. Professional liability: the possibility that an error in judgement will result
in an assertion of professional negligence in violation of the duty of care.
The business risks of machine intelligence in architecture are more existential,
and these are addressed in a later section in this chapter. Of more direct,
practical consequence are questions of professional responsibility, duty of
care and the implications of machines making complex decisions either in
support of (augmentation) or in lieu or (automation) human architects.

TECHNOLOGY AND TECHNICAL RESPONSIBILITY

EN
Despite its admittedly slow pace, broad swathes of the design and
construction supply chain are being digitised today with an array of
procedural, automation and data management tools. In architecture, BIM
IM
is the most prominent of such instruments,6 but this software falls largely
into the category of automating, rather than autonomous, instrumentation.
While certain aspects of its functionality are entirely autonomous (such as the
EC

generation of schedules and views), BIM relies on minute interactions with a

designer to instantiate design data, and the attribution of responsibility for
the results of this interaction are unambiguous: the architect using the tool is
responsible for its output. This is consistent with the concept of responsible
SP

control established by both the ARB7 and NCARB.8

Even in circumstances where the responsible designer relies on technology

for substantive portions of technical analysis, there can be no assumption
of delegated authority to software or its producers. A vivid example
of this relationship is in the allied discipline of structural engineering,
where software like Tekla Structures has been used for years for routine
calculations of loads and generation of structural details. Repeated use
(and professional validation) of this technology has led engineers to rely
upon it to produce calculations upon which buildings literally stand, but
the engineer of record is still personally liable for that work, irrespective of
computer output.

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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86 MACHINE LEARNING

Representational tools like BIM, or analytical tools like structural engineering

software, have two important distinctions from their potential AI-enabled
successors:

1. A given set of inputs to such software reliably produces a set of results,

creating predictability and reliability in the relationship between the two.
2. If necessary, the creators of the underlying software code can explain,
with precision, the foundational logic whereby a given input produced a
given output, and potential anomalies can be, at least in theory, repeated
and, if necessary, diagnosed and corrected.

A future machine learning-based tool, however, has neither of these

reassuring characteristics. Given that its underlying code evolves constantly

EN
as it is exposed to more data, the algorithm may decide to make different
choices at different times, based on the same set of constraints, parameters
or inputs. And since deep learning systems in particular are notoriously
obscure – as they construct their own internal logics – it will be impossible to
IM
determine why a given decision has been made.

Of course, as an architect becomes more experienced, she may also make

EC

different decisions about an identical set of circumstances and, as a result,

generate different results. The difference, however, is that if she makes an
error, we know who to hold responsible. This is hardly the case with software.
SP

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ALGORITHMS

In fact, the polar opposite is the case. Before you are allowed to access any
piece of commercial software, you are required to acknowledge agreement --``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

with that software’s ‘End User License Agreement’, or EULA. The EULA
explains, in turgid terms, exactly what you can – and cannot – do and expect
from the software you have licensed.9

My former employer, Autodesk, has millions of users worldwide, including a

lot of architects, engineers and contractors. At the risk of either inspiring you
to turn the page in boredom or abandon the chapter entirely, I quote at length
below two relevant but nonetheless redacted passages from the standard
Autodesk EULA, with emphasis (bolding) added. While painful to read, they are
illuminating:

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2.2 LAWS, POLICY AND RISK 87

5.2 Disclaimer. EXCEPT FOR THE EXPRESS LIMITED WARRANTY PROVIDED

IN SECTION 5.1 (LIMITED WARRANTY), AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT
PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, AUTODESK AND ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE,
AND LICENSEE RECEIVES, NO WARRANTIES, REPRESENTATIONS, OR
CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED (INCLUDING, WITHOUT
LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT, OR WARRANTIES
OTHERWISE IMPLIED BY STATUTE OR FROM A COURSE OF DEALING
OR USAGE OF TRADE) WITH RESPECT TO ANY AUTODESK MATERIALS,
RELATIONSHIP PROGRAMS, OR SERVICES (PURSUANT TO A RELATIONSHIP
PROGRAM OR OTHERWISE) … AUTODESK DOES NOT WARRANT:… THAT
THE OPERATION OR OUTPUT OF THE LICENSED MATERIALS OR SERVICES
WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, SECURE, ACCURATE, RELIABLE,

SUPPORT BY AUTODESK OR ANY THIRD PARTY…

EN
OR COMPLETE, WHETHER OR NOT UNDER A RELATIONSHIP PROGRAM OR

6.1 Functionality Limitations. The Licensed Materials and Services …

IM
are commercial professional tools intended to be used by trained
professionals only. Particularly in the case of commercial professional
use, the Licensed Materials and Services are not a substitute for
EC

Licensee’s professional judgment or independent testing. The Licensed

Materials and Services are intended only to assist Licensee with its design,
analysis, simulation, estimation, testing and/or other activities and are
not a substitute for Licensee’s own independent design, analysis,
SP

simulation, estimation, testing, and/or other activities, including those

with respect to product stress, safety and utility.10
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

To make absolutely sure the user understands the importance of the

Disclaimer, it is printed IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, whereas the section on
Functionality Limitations is in mixed case. If it is not abundantly clear here,
there are two important concepts to which an end user agrees when using
this software. First, you use the software entirely at your own risk, and the
company assumes no responsibility whatsoever for its fitness for purpose,
accuracy or other outputs. This is often hard for licensees to swallow, given
the cost of a software subscription.

Second, as if that is not enough, the EULA specifies that the software is to
be used by trained professionals who will, allegedly, understand its purpose
and functionality. It goes further to explain that use of this tool by such a
professional is no substitute for professional judgement itself. You may have

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88 MACHINE LEARNING

some powerful digital instruments at your disposal, but the duty of care
still obtains – and you are still on the hook. Please make sure to keep your
subscription current.

To be fair to my former employers (and their vendor brethren), there is

some logic in this contractual deal. While responsible software companies
extensively test their products before release,11 it is simply impossible to
anticipate every combination of user interactions and design conditions the
software may need to accommodate during its use. In fact, during my time
negotiating contracts for an architectural practice, I used similar ‘suitability for
use’ language when clients demanded digital versions of our drawings, as I
had no idea what they might do with that data and how they might try to hold
my firm responsible for its uncontrolled use. I also required them to rely on

resulting liability of unrestricted data in the wild.

EN
the paper versions of same. There is no practical way to predict or manage the

The challenge, of course, is that the complexity of data interactions that

IM
include user inputs and software outputs is a magnitude of complexity higher
when the software is constantly evolving as a machine learning algorithm.
History suggests that software vendors will, in response, move further from
EC

responsibility with their next generation tools.12

FAILURES OF EXECUTION
Failures in the building industry are common, ranging from the more typical
SP

broken schedules and blown budgets to infrequent but calamitous disasters

like the Grenfell Tower fire in west London. Somewhere in between these
extremes lies the responsibility of buildings to be technically, environmentally,
socially and contextually appropriate. Surely technology can play an important
part in helping building professionals – and especially principal designers
such as architects – do a better job with such outcomes. For the purposes of
this particular exploration, the question remains about the extent to which
the responsibilities of managing the resulting risks of project execution are
increased or diminished by AI-driven tools.

Those risks are sketched in Figure 2.2.1, based on Figure 1.6.5, that examines
the fundamental risks of failure when AI is enlisted to assist the architect in
each of her four fundamental roles during project execution:

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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2.2 LAWS, POLICY AND RISK 89

2.2.1:
ROLE AUGMENTED BY AI REPLACEMENT PROFESSIONAL
ROLES AND
BY AI RISK OF FAILURE
PROFESSIONAL
AGENT OF DEMONSTRATED GENERATION OF INCOHERENT, RISK
THE OWNER DESIGN RESULTS COMPLETE DESIGN INEPT OR
BASED ON LARGE SCHEMES DANGEROUS
REPRESENTATIVE SOLUTIONS
DATA AND AI- OTHERWISE
GENERATED UNVETTED FOR
CONCLUSIONS FIT FOR PURPOSE

LEADER OF COHERENT INTEGRATION OF MISCOORDINATION

THE DESIGN DISTRIBUTION ENGINEERING LEADING TO
TEAM OF USEFUL AND OTHER TECHNICAL OR
INFORMATION REPRESENTATIONS OPERATIONAL
TO THE POINT OF THE PROJECT ERRORS
OF WORK AND COORDINATION
OF THEIR WORK

GUIDE TO
THE DESIGN
INFORMATION
TO THE BUILDER
DESIGN DATA
AUGMENTED BY
PROCEDURAL
INFORMATION FOR
ASSEMBLY AND
CONSTRUCTION
AUTOMATIC

EN
GENERATION OF
CONSTRUCTION
DOCUMENTATION,
BASED ON
INFORMATION
MISMATCH OF
INFORMATION
FIDELITY,
DESIGN DECISION
ERRORS, UNTIMELY
RESPONSES
IM
DEMANDS OF THE
BUILDER

PROTECTOR OF THE LIFE SAFETY CODE CHECKING CONSEQUENTIAL

PUBLIC’S HEALTH, ANALYSIS AND AND CERTIFICATION DAMAGES OF
EC

SAFETY AND COMPLIANCE FOR PERMIT INJURY AND DEATH

WELFARE EVALUATION
SP

Consider these risks in the context of the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower in
2017. In that disaster, a small appliance fire on the fourth floor of a residential
high-rise spread uncontrolled through the building envelope, and 72 people
perished. Components of that envelope had been replaced during a 2015
refurbishment conducted by the building owners and managers and without
direct involvement of the original principal designers. In fact, the requirement
that every project even involve a principal designer was implemented in 2015,
too late to be relevant during the refurbishment project. The Grenfell disaster
was a result of a confluence of technical decisions and errors made by a
combination of players from the client, design and construction/building supply
industries. It may have been the complex interaction of these players that will
ultimately be found to be responsible for the inexcusable deaths at Grenfell,
although at the time of writing all those players deny any responsibility.13
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90 MACHINE LEARNING

What is clear from this evaluation is that all the responsibilities of building
– and particularly the architect – in execution are correlated to complex
and ambiguous obligations, tasks, dependencies and outcomes that will
be difficult to delegate to machines, and that in order to assure these
important obligations are fulfilled, humans must remain in charge, EULAs
notwithstanding.

POLICY-MAKING
Building well is undeniably a strong public interest and assuring that
buildings are designed and constructed well is a necessary component of
public policy. The building enterprise continues to increase in complexity,
as clearly demonstrated by phenomena as disparate as the climate crisis (at
a global scale) and the Grenfell disaster (at a project scale). Understanding,

EN
managing and optimising the complex characteristics and interactions of
design decisions, construction strategies, building performance, material
characteristics and even market conditions is a task well suited to big data
and AI/ML. Proper responsibility for managing the application of machine
IM
intelligence in the building enterprise could benefit the public if the
relationship between the two is correctly mediated.
EC

Two policy initiatives are suggested by this logic. Given that each of the
responsibilities described in Figure 2.2.1 might be easily characterised as
a ‘wicked problem’, it makes little sense for the resulting obligations to be
delegated strictly to machines, which will play an important – but not exclusive
SP

– part in solving them. Thus, despite some suggestions to the contrary,14

professional licensing requirements and statutes should be strengthened so
that educated, experienced architects and engineers can remain at the centre
of projects and accept responsibility accordingly.

Public policy with regard to the development, deployment and efficacy of

the technologies upon which we are increasingly reliant must catch up, as
much as possible, with the accelerating pace of machine intelligence. Just as
governments establish, control and enforce regulations about medical devices
and medications, air traffic and aircraft safety, and other aspects of public

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2.2 LAWS, POLICY AND RISK 91

health, safety and welfare, it must support the creation of standards and
certification protocols for systems and algorithms upon which the building
industry will rely, including the data trusts that might be repositories for
related information. Much like Underwriter Laboratories in the US is legally
tasked with certifying the safety of electrical devices, similar structures should
be established for digitally empowered design and building.

BUSINESS RISK AND BEYOND

A final note on the business risks of machine intelligence in the design
professions, which have been alluded to elsewhere in this text, particularly
Chapter 1.5.

In the short term, certain firms will likely establish a viable but short-lived

EN
competitive advantage by early adoption of AI that will differentiate their
services by capabilities or efficiency. As more firms follow their lead, this
advantage will disappear.
IM
Over the long term, however, architects are likely to face the same questions
of disruption and replacement by cognitive automation as other knowledge
workers,15 although the argument above suggests that the timeline of our
EC

destruction may be attenuated. Our demise could be largely eliminated,

however, by using the capabilities of AI technologies to increase the value of
our services – and by implication, of the built environment itself – and to make
society more dependent on architects and the machines that assist them, in
SP

that order.

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ML_11_02AW.indd 91 11/02/2022 17:04

>> IF MACHINES CAN REPLACE KNOWLEDGE
WORKERS, DOES THE BUILDING INDUSTRY,

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
OR SOCIETY WRIT LARGE, REALLY NEED
ARCHITECTS? ONE THESIS SUGGESTS THAT
MUCH OF OUR WORK AS ARCHITECTS – WHO
EN
IM
PURPORTEDLY DESIGN VERY FEW OF THE
WORLD’S BUILDINGS ANYWAY – COULD BE
EASILY AUTOMATED. PERHAPS ARCHITECTURAL
EC

EXPERTISE COULD BE MORE WIDELY

DISTRIBUTED VIA INTELLIGENT MACHINES
SP

RATHER THAN BY A WIDER REACH AND AGENCY

OF ARCHITECTS? ALTERNATIVELY, THOSE
MACHINES AND THEIR INCREASINGLY POTENT
SUCCESSORS COULD BE SEEN AS TOOLS THAT
EMPOWER ARCHITECTS TO TRULY IMPROVE THE
BUILT ENVIRONMENT. <<

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93

When the UK Government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enacted

the requirement that building projects require a principal designer, it
acknowledged that built assets manifest in three distinct phases: planning,
execution and use (followed, presumably, by eventual demolition). Before
2015, when the HSE CDM (Construction, Design and Management) regulations
went into effect, designers were considered desirable, but not necessary,
participants in the delivery process. This is in stark contrast to US law,
where any habitable building of significant size must be designed by a
licensed architect,1 and is likely an indication of the political strength of the
construction industry in dictating the terms of building delivery.

HSE makes the case for the necessity for architects (as one option) crisply in
their regulation, indicating that principal designers must (emphasis added):

»
EN
Plan, manage, monitor and coordinate health and safety in the
pre-construction phase. In doing so they must take account of
relevant information (such as an existing health and safety file)
IM
that might affect design work carried out both before and after the
construction phase has started.
» Help and advise the client in bringing together pre-construction
EC

information, and provide the information designers and contractors

need to carry out their duties.
» Work with any other designers on the project to eliminate
foreseeable health and safety risks to anyone affected by the work
SP

and, where that is not possible, take steps to reduce or control

those risks.
» Ensure that everyone involved in the pre-construction phase
communicates and cooperates, coordinating their work wherever
required.
» Liaise with the principal contractor, keeping them informed of any
risks that need to be controlled during the construction phase.2

Missing, of course, from this otherwise nifty summary of the need for
designers is anything about the quality of the resulting artefact, including
its suitability for use, relationship to context, expressive nature, or even
environmental or social appropriateness. These are results that clients
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

who hire architects clearly desire, even though they could meet the CDM
requirements with any party willing to assume the role of principal designer.
Even so, consider whether an intelligent machine in the foreseeable future

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94 MACHINE LEARNING

might ‘plan, manage and coordinate health and safety’, ‘help and advise
the client’, ‘eliminate foreseeable risks’ or ‘ensure everyone communicates
and cooperates’. If these things were even remotely possible, I suspect
construction managers, who perform many of the same tasks during their
phase of the work, will join architects at the unemployment office. However, is
even considering such a future a good idea?

THE PLAN OF WORK

As an architect who practises in the United States, I have always admired
the clarity, flexibility and elegance of the RIBA Plan of Work. It evolves over
time, changes to reflect delivery and computational realities, and presents
clients and collaborators with a very clear definition of both the arc of a

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
project’s lifecycle and the architect’s possibilities to participate in a project

EN
in its entirety. This structure contrasts starkly with its American counterpart,
defined by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as ‘Basic Services’ in
several stolid and largely unhelpfully described phases like ‘Schematic Design’,
which have remained largely unchanged for decades despite the fluid nature
IM
of practice, particularly in the digital age.3

A comparison of the two structures, derived from Figure 1.5.2, can be seen
EC

in Figure 2.3.1, in which I have also diagrammed the subtle but important
implications of the Plan of Work: it can be abstracted to understand the work
of architects in four ‘super-stages’:
SP

1. Project Definition, comprised of the stages of work necessary to create

the overall approach for the project
2.3.1: 2. Technical Development, where the approach is refined as an engineered
SUPER-STAGES
and buildable idea, technical insight integrated and detailed information
OF THE
ARCHITECT’S in preparation for construction created
SCOPE OF
SERVICE

PROJECT DEFINITION TECHNICAL

0 1 2 3
RIBA STRATEGIC PREPARATION CONCEPT SPATIAL
DEFINITION & BRIEFING DESIGN COORDINATION

PD SD DD
AIA PRELIMINARY DESIGN, SCHEMATIC DESIGN DESIGN
PROGRAMMING DEVELOPMENT

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2.3 THE DEMAND FOR PROFESSIONALS 95

3. Execution, where the asset is constructed by the contractor

4. Use, when the building is occupied.4

In contrast with the ‘bottom up’ analysis of services we looked at in Chapter 1.5,
let us consider the implications of machine intelligence on these super-stages
and how the work of the architect might be either augmented or replaced.

PROJECTIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
At the heart of the architect’s value in creating the built environment is what
I will call, for purposes of this discussion, her ‘projective responsibilities’ to
generate and instantiate ideas about the future state of the building she is
designing. To do this job, her conceptual skills must range from broad-scale

EN

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
predictions about the implications of her building in the city, to the minute
choices of finishes in the interior; this is a very broad remit, particularly when
each of these decisions should support an integrated vision of the project.
IM
Design, as apart from construction, is essentially an Enlightenment era idea
about how humans should make things, and was defined for architecture
by Leon Battista Alberti around 1450, when he wrote that buildings should
EC

be ‘conceived in the mind, made up of lines and angles, and perfected in

the learned mind and imagination’5 and then executed without deviation by
builders, whose job was to convert the design projection into a built reality.6
And while it has been argued that architecture has long relied on structured,
SP

formalised systems ranging from Vitruvian Orders to off-the-shelf storefront

window systems7 that make for easy pickings by AI, the range of imaginative
obligations demanded of today’s architects, particularly in the project
definition super-phase of the work, defy systematic outputs by algorithms.
There is simply too much ambiguity, need for judgement and trade-offs, and
demand to solve wicked problems at a variety of scales.

DEVELOPMENT EXECUTION USE

4 5 6 7
TECHNICAL NOT MANUFACTURING HANDOVER USE
DESIGN USED + CONSTRUCTION

CD PR CA NOT POE POST

CONSTRUCTION PROCUREMENT CONSTRUCTION USED OCCUPANCY
DOCUMENTS CONTRACT ADMIN EVALUATION

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96 MACHINE LEARNING

Today’s AI/ML systems see patterns, particularly those that humans cannot
divine, by virtue of the vast ocean of data available to those systems, but they
are only projective to the extent they have specific computational templates
to follow, like the rules of chess or Go. Their ability to project the future
state of, say, a building design, is a function of past experience (as defined
by data generated by other projects) and whatever rule set they have been
programmed to follow. Completely missing in today’s systems is the ability
to reason counter-factually or to understand causality (why something did
or did not happen) versus correlation (something might happen because,
statistically, it has happened under the same circumstances before). Ironically,
this argument is made best by computer scientist Judea Pearl, who invented
the statistical theory called Bayesian networks, upon which today’s correlation-
reliant machine learning neural network systems are based.8

EN
Pearl is convinced that truly intelligent machines are not possible until they
can reason causally and climb what he calls ‘The Ladder of Causation’
(see Figure 2.3.2), which has three rungs:
IM
Association (where understanding is a function of observing data);
Intervention (where actions are possible based on projecting the
EC

implications of the future), and Counterfactuals (where understanding

leads to ideas based not just on actions but counter-factual assertions
about the future). Today’s systems are firmly planted on the lowest rung.
SP

The ladder is a sophisticated successor to the theories of Roger Schank,

mentioned earlier. Schank believed that the true test of any intelligent
machine was the ability to reason inferentially – a different take on Pearl’s
assertions of Intervention and Counterfactual reasoning. He suggested that
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

the logic of inference was at the heart of human language and cognition. If a
machine could draw a conclusion by ‘understanding’ the logic of implications,
it could be said to be reasoning like a human. Unfortunately, this thesis was
strongly hobbled by the crude machines we programmed in the 1970s and the
need to explicitly code all the resulting cognitive logic. Schank’s thesis faded
with the ‘AI Winter’ of the 1980s.

Pearl’s ladder is not simply a software roadmap for 21st-century AI systems,

but rather yet another assertion about the fundamental nature of human
intelligence, one that differentiates humans from other species and accounts
for our accelerated progress:

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2.3 THE DEMAND FOR PROFESSIONALS 97

2.3.2:
PEARL’S
‘LADDER OF
CAUSATION’

EN
IM
EC
SP

>> What humans have that other species lacked was a mental
representation of their environment – a representation that they could
manipulate at will to imagine hypothetical environments for planning
and learning … (they have) the ability to create and store a mental
representation of their environment, interrogate the representation,
distort it by mental acts of imagination, and finally ask the ‘What if?’
kinds of questions. 9 <<

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98 MACHINE LEARNING

Pearl speculates that the most important ideas in history were the result
of ‘wild modelling strategies’ (like the Earth astride a giant turtle as early
astrophysics) and that algorithms that merely fit data to scenarios could never
generate such concepts.10 ‘Imagining hypothetical environments’, or, in more
prosaic terms, ‘Project Definition’, is the central value of a good architect and
demands third-rung talents that are unlikely to be achieved by machines
anytime soon. In fact, should machines reach the second rung, we might
achieve tools that help architects speculate on ‘what if’, the more modern
versions of today’s analysis software, that could be hugely helpful to the
human architects occupying the top of Pearl’s ladder.

TECHNICAL COMPRESSION
If the value of projectivity firmly roots human architects in the responsibilities

EN
of project definition, our future involvement in technical definition is less
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

clear. Once design strategies have been defined – choosing and spatially
coordinating systems, generating coherent and coordinated documents,
analysing performance and cost, and organising and transmitting information
IM
from designers to builders – are formalised protocols that are more suited
to automation. As digital project histories become available as data sources,
empiricist systems or even those reaching Pearl’s cognitive capabilities of the
EC

‘intervention’ rung, may assume more responsibility for technical integration.

Digitally automated construction and fabrication systems can consume data
systematically generated by their AI counterparts on the design side. All of
which is to suggest that the technical development super-stage is much more
SP

subject to AI replacement than its predecessor in project definition.

However, there is an important caveat here. Health and safety considerations

are at the forefront of HSE’s requirement for a principal designer, and while
AI tools are likely to get much smarter in guiding projects towards safer
outcomes, there is little benefit in allocating that responsibility exclusively
to algorithms, which are far from being capable of making decisions and
therefore taking the corresponding obligations.

As philosopher Daniel C. Dennett suggests, computers are not conscious

entities, cannot suffer consequences of failure and do not assume human
obligations. He asks if it is possible to ‘Give me the specs for a robot that could
sign a binding contract – not as a surrogate for some human owner but on its
own … as a morally responsible agent.’11 If there is any lesson from Grenfell,
it is that the complexity of the building enterprise – in all dimensions of

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2.3 THE DEMAND FOR PROFESSIONALS 99

design, construction, supply chain management, certification and regulation,

and human behaviour – is beyond the ken of machines. As Dennett further
posits: ‘We don’t need conscious agents. There is a surfeit of natural conscious
agents, enough to handle whatever tasks should be reserved for such special
and privileged entities. We need intelligent tools.’12

HEALTH, SAFETY, WELFARE AND THE FUTURE

In summer 2020, academic administrators (like me) were facing the
daunting task of planning the upcoming school year in the face of a global
pandemic. Under the rubric of ‘everything looks like a nail when all you
have is a hammer’, our team at the School of Architecture began looking
for an architectural strategy to address an epidemiological crisis. We knew
that if we could translate the spatial demands of public health parameters

of maintaining some semblance of the education our students so reasonably

expect. After a summer of careful planning, we produced an operating plan –
50 pages of architectural and engineering analysis – that allowed us to open
EN
(established by our colleagues in the School of Public Health) we had a chance
IM
our building and give our students access to our facilities while working in
studio. Every classroom was evaluated and rearranged so those faculty who
could teach in person might do so. Air systems were evaluated and adjusted,
EC

and a safe occupancy schedule established and enforced. The school year
ended without almost no positive cases among our students.

Architects in the 21st century face an array of similar challenges that must
SP
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

draw the profession away from its obsession with making beautiful objects
for the wealthy. At the top of this list is climate change, followed closely by
housing inequity, structural racism in the built environment, especially cities,
even questions of modern slavery in the building supply chain.13

In the aggregate, these challenges comprise a new definition of the public’s

health, safety and welfare, an idea that catalyses the need for a principal
designer in the UK and is the basis of professional licensure in the US. Facing
these questions as a set of spatial challenges demands the essentially human
capabilities of Russell’s intuition, insight and intuition that are unlikely to be
provided by machines soon, and certainly not in time to attack these problems
with the ‘wild modelling strategies’ they will demand. As Dennett so wisely
posits, AI producers should be ‘making tools, not colleagues’.14 Architects are
needed as never before, empowered by those tools.

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100 MACHINE LEARNING

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
EN
IM
EC
SP

2.3.3:
YALE
ARCHITECTURE
STUDIO SPACE
PLANNING
(COURTESY
APICELLA
+ BUNTON
ARCHITECTS)
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2.3 THE DEMAND FOR PROFESSIONALS 101

EN
IM
EC
SP

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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>> TECHNOLOGIES, BY THEMSELVES, RARELY
BEND THE ARC OF ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION
OR CERTIFICATION. NEW TOOLS CHANGE THE
NATURE OF THE ARCHITECTURAL PROCESS,
EN
IM
ALBEIT VERY SLOWLY, AND THE INTELLECTUAL
INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE PROFESSION –
EC

SCHOOLS, PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

AND LICENSURE BOARDS – ARE EVEN SLOWER
TO RESPOND. THE ADVENT OF INTELLIGENT
SP

MACHINES AND THE DEMANDS ON 21ST-CENTURY

DESIGN WILL REQUIRE THESE INSTITUTIONS
TO RETHINK HOW ARCHITECTS ARE TRAINED, --``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

THE CRITERIA BY WHICH THEY ARE CERTIFIED

AND THE INTELLECTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE OF
THE PROFESSION ITSELF. <<

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103

I have argued to this point that while AI systems are likely to both augment
and impinge on the work of architects, they are unlikely to replace us as
designers, a capability that will require the development of artificial general
intelligence (AGI). The data scientist Herbert Roitblat correlates AGI with just
such an ability to attack the ‘wicked’ problem of design, suggesting that ‘To
have a truly general intelligence, computers will need the capability to define
and structure their own problems,’1 which is an excellent way to characterise
the value of a talented designer.

There are, of course, many problems facing architects in the day-to-day

business of design that are well structured and suited to emergent, empiricist
machine learning systems. This will be increasingly true as architecture and
the scientific disciplines necessary to attack issues of climate change, material

EN
performance or even the socio-economic dynamics of building become more
entwined. Although data-dependent analytical tools that can help architects
with these issues are a far cry from the representational tools like CAD or
BIM, which have been treated largely as instruments of expression in both
IM
the academy and the office, their emergence suggests that the two poles
of intellectual infrastructure of architecture – academic and professional
institutions – must plan for the resulting implications.
EC

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
We will touch first on the well-trod and contested ground between those who
prepare architects for practice in the academy and those who establish the
SP

criteria for accredited curricula and, eventually, professional certification that

leads to licensure. The uneasy truce between providers of architectural talent,
the certifiers of competence and the consumers of that talent in daily practice
is underpinned by a basic tension: what does it mean to educate a competent
practitioner? To crudely summarise the positions of the contestants,
educators argue that architecture is best understood as a form of culture,
and it is difficult, time-consuming and expensive to train students in the
design skills necessary to achieve that end, so there is little time to do much
else. Licensure certifiers define competency in terms of the legal demands
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

of the public’s health, safety and welfare, and demand technical competency
first. They are bolstered by professional associations that protect the brand
and potency of architects and steer toward capabilities with marketplace
relevance. Meanwhile, the practices just want folks who can function the day
they first sit down behind their assigned computer.

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104 MACHINE LEARNING

The means by which these competing aspirations place demands on the

architect include:

» curriculum and accreditation constraints (in the academy)

» testing and experience and continuing professional education (by the
licensing authorities), and
» qualifications for membership and more continuing education (by
professional associations).

While the standards and structures differ slightly, these arrangements are
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

largely the same in the UK and US, and compiled in Figure 2.4.1.

SCHOOLS
EN
[Curriculum accreditation]

Research
IM
Part 1 / 2 Professional
Degree
ACADEMY

EC

RIBA Certification NAAB Certification

SP

ASSOCIATIONS CERTIFICATION
PROFESSION

RIBA AIA ARB NCARB

[Licensure Testing CPD CE

PRACTICE
Experience CPD] EXPERIENCE [Continuing certification
of competency]
PEDR AXP

2.4.1: [Demonstrate
INTELLECTUAL experience]
DEMANDS
ON THE
ARCHITECT

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2.4 EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING 105

These competing constituencies, with our architect in the middle, take

divergent positions about what constitutes competence and use different
instruments to enforce them. The emergence of new technologies, at least

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
to date, has changed these positions little, if it all, since those technologies
have largely been technical means (software) to representational ends
(drawings, models). However, once computers begin to augment (or replace)
competence, the conditions on this pitch will need to change.

TERMS OF TOOLS
The advent of BIM demonstrates this intransigence and holds potential
lessons for the upcoming era of AI. As that technology began widespread
adoption around 2010, at a point where the software was sufficiently mature,
machines capable and when propellants like the UK BIM Mandate came into
focus, there was widespread conversation about how a new means of data-
rich representation might empower architects and the building industry writ
large. Early academic enthusiasm, however, soon faded, and despite massive
investments in software and hardware, design pedagogy remained largely
EN
IM
unchanged.2 While BIM is begrudgingly taught in most schools, it is done so
as a necessary evil to prepare students for practice, and widespread research
on the possible implications of BIM for design pedagogy are somewhat
EC

unexplored territory.3

I would argue that the disinterest in fully engaging BIM in design curricula
is indicative of the larger inclination of educators to see technologies only
SP

as tools or instruments, although there are specialised, post-graduate BIM

technical degrees for those so inclined.4 Since BIM joined a crowded field
of ‘representational’ instruments (used directly to depict a design), and that
software is deployed largely in the service of form- and image-making, this
conclusion is understandable. At my institution we are careful to say that we
teach principles and theory, not tools, and there are no parts of the curriculum
(save one) where learning tools can result in credit toward the degree.5

This arm’s-length relationship, however, will not serve either students or the
overall professional well in the long term, and the advent of machines that
can do knowledge work is best faced now by educators and other leaders
of our profession. As intelligent machines move from efficient depiction and
data management (CAD, BIM) to analysis, insight and evaluation (AI/ML), the
academy must face two parallel obligations:

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106 MACHINE LEARNING

1. Instantiating a different source of design insight into design pedagogy.

2. Providing the foundational research around the data sources and uses
that newly intelligent instruments require.

These two objectives are self-reinforcing; by laying out the proper terms of
intelligent digital competence in the enterprise of design, the academy can set
the direction for their use in the marketplace.

It is important to draw the distinction here between the development of

algorithms that design things themselves and those that provide a supporting
role. Subscribing to the earlier argument that we need ‘tools, not colleagues’,6
some of the most interesting research today in the architecture/ML nexus looks
at what we can learn from algorithmic generation of building plans or room

Design (see Figure 2.4.2).

EN
configurations, like that of Stanislas Chaillou of Harvard Graduate School of

This work is important in that it may yield insights into building organisation,
IM
or even optimisation. It allows designers to see problems in a different light,
but it does not solve those same problems. Stuart Russell suggests that ‘… AI
research has focused on systems that are better at making decisions, but that is
EC

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
not the same as making better decisions’.7 Thus, this research is not likely to be
of the most immediate use in a world when structured, scientific and technical
interrogation and evaluation of design work will be increasingly demanded.
SP

Finally, recent graduates often introduce new technologies and methods

to practice, where technology hesitancy is a function of conservative work
processes, long project schedules, costs of implementation and low profit
margins. If AI strategies for architecture can be incubated in the academy,
perhaps they can be carried into regular practice by the most technologically
adept new employees.

PROFESSIONAL PREROGATIVES, CERTIFICATIONS AND DEMANDS

On leaving the academy, our future architect enters the domain of the
profession and its disparate masters: registration authorities and professional
associations and accreditors, both with roles in certifying competence, and
therefore in defining the knowledge and skills that a professional architect
must possess. However, where technology once relieved architects of the
obligation for such prosaic obligations as consistent hand-lettering and line
weights on drawings (that were not of much concern to certifiers), or even

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2.4 EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING 107

EN
IM
EC
SP

2.4.2:
AI-BASED
PLAN
GENERATION

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108 MACHINE LEARNING

properly coordinating callouts on CAD drawings, its role in both dispensing

and generating knowledge that supports the design process should draw
more careful attention.

In the US, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards is the

organisation, comprised of licensure authorities of 54 US jurisdictions, that
sets certification standards for architectural registration. As part of their
protocols for establishing testing and experience standards, as well as
influencing the accreditors of architectural schools, they prepare a ‘Practice
Analysis of Architecture’ to determine what skills practising architects and
educators believe are necessary for recent graduates and licensees to master,
whether in school or otherwise. Even in 2012, the year the last analysis was
completed (see Figure 2.4.3), there was strong agreement that technological

2.4.3:
NCARB 2012
PRACTICE
EN
skill was necessary to be deemed competent, if only towards various
representational ends (like drawings).

While we wait for the 2020 analysis, it is safe to presume that the 2032
IM
ANALYSIS OF analysis will include knowledge and skills of AI applications, and the overall
KNOWLEDGE/
summary of competencies will reflect the idea that certain functions of today’s
SKILLS
RELATED TO architects, particularly those related to building science, will be performed by
EC

TECHNOLOGY 8 machines and managed and integrated into project process by architects.

70%
SP

EDUCATORS
60%

ARCHITECTS
50%

40%

30%
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

20%

10%

0%

SKILL: USE SKILL: USE KNOWLEDGE: KNOWLEDGE:

SOFTWARE TO SOFTWARE TO UNDERSTAND UNDERSTAND
PRODUCE 2D PRODUCE 3D COMPUTER PRINCIPLES OF CAD
DRAWINGS MODELS AIDED DESIGN TO COMMUNICATE
DESIGN IDEAS

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2.4 EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING 109

The lessons of the UK National Level 2 BIM Standard, which stipulates both
the information outputs and performance levels of the design process when
powered by BIM, may be instructive.9 It was created by an industry consortium
and eventually evolved from a UK-only template (PAS 1192) to an international
standard (ISO 19650). While some practitioners in the UK may avoid working in
BIM, any government-funded project requires it for the large number of industry
projects they fund, and it is a matter of time before BIM techniques and data
strategies will be instantiated into the standard of professional care, expected of
competent practitioners.

The Level 2 standard was based on a larger industry strategy established by the
Cabinet Office as part of a national economic agenda to improve building and UK
construction competitiveness globally, decrease climate impacts of construction
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

and make government building more efficient.10 The resulting technology

requirements were designed to provide process and outputs towards those ends,
and acknowledged the importance of information strategies: EN
IM
>> Information management using building information modelling
can enable dramatic improvement in delivery and performance
efficiencies by catalysing increasingly innovative ways of working
EC

across the built environment. As an information-based industry, this

approach is helping to support better strategic decisions, improved
predictability through better risk management and – when coupled
with a soft-landings methodology (Annex B of this guidance) – can lead
SP

to certainty of operational outcomes and improved learning. 11 <<

The particular implications for the instruments of professional certifiers –

licensing criteria, testing, experience and continuing professional develop
– should be derived both organically from emerging practice standards and
duties of care, and strategically from cross-industry efforts like Level 2 BIM
that set technological objectives and standards of use from agreed goals.

This suggests that the most important role of certifiers in establishing the
use of machine intelligence should not stem from determining or driving the
particular and unique requirements of AI-supported architectural practice but
rather in concert with larger industry collaborators who can prioritise the most
important objectives and use of these new systems. This approach will be not
just desirable but necessary, given that, unlike BIM tools that generate data
by virtue of its use, AI/ML systems require large, well-curated data sets for
training and optimisation, and those data are most useful when contributed

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110 MACHINE LEARNING

across the entire delivery chain. The training obligations demanded by

certifiers do not serve only as requirements for professionals, but for the
machine learning systems as well.

Professional associations, like RIBA or AIA, have more vague ideas about
certification for membership, as such considerations are primarily designed
to assure that members have credibility with the marketplace. Continuing
professional development requirements ask only that member architects
be regularly exposed to a broad spectrum of technical and professional
concerns, stipulating general categories (such as ‘Health, Safety and Welfare’,

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
for example, in the US) and numbers of hours of attendance. Over the next
decade, as architectural clients rely on AI-based processes in their business
or government operations, it is possible that those clients will ask the same of

follow the desires of the customer base.

PRESSING PROBLEMS OF INSIGHT

EN
their architects, and professional education and CPD certification are sure to
IM
The marketplace is currently pressing the building industry about carbon and
climate change, and that challenge gives us a good opportunity to speculate
on how the academic and professional platforms of architecture might
EC

respond in the time of machine intelligence. Imagine the following scenario:

In 2032 the Ministry of Justice issues a request for proposals for a new
headquarters building in Westminster. The project is to adhere to the recent
SP

update of ISO 19650, the so called ‘Intelligent Level 3 BIM’ mandate, and reflect
best practices in responsible environmental design, including certifications that the
project will be net zero, generate at least 500 construction jobs and be free of any
evidence of modern slavery in labour or material practices.

The Construction Industry Council, with participation of RIBA, ARB and a

consortium of universities including Cambridge, Liverpool, Manchester and the
Architectural Association, has certified a complement of artificial intelligence
platforms for the evaluation of embodied carbon and the labour supply chain.
Those systems were built, based on research in the consortium, by several
companies in the M4 Corridor, the so-called ‘England’s Silicon Valley’, and trained
with the National Building Data Trust, created and curated by the Infrastructure
and Projects Authority in 2026 with data provided by the UK’s global design and
construction industry.

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2.4 EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING 111

The RFP (Request for Proposal) stipulates that submitting architects must be RIBA
certified in machine data analytics for Level 3 outcomes, and able to deploy AI
platforms to evaluate submitted schemes for compliance to climate, economic
and labour performance. The team must also include at least two architects
with registrations in the recently approved SPLC (Speciality Professional Licence
Certification) created by ARB in climate change modelling and supply chain
management evaluation. Several graduate candidates from Leeds and Liverpool
have sat for, and received, these special registrations.

The SPLC program has been created in concert with a new definition of Principal
Designer established in 2029 by the Health and Safety Executive that includes
environmental and labour equity in the responsibilities for that designation. Many
firms have been experimenting with two AI platforms, smartTALLY (see Figure 2.4.4)

EN
and buildFRDM (see Figure 2.4.5), that assess Level 3 BIM schemes for embodied
carbon and forced labour, and collect information about design decisions and
strategies that are contributed to the National Building Data Trust. The HSE has
further stipulated that projects for human habitation larger than 300 sqm must
IM
have an assigned Principal Designer who is a licensed architect, causing some
consternation amongst the country’s construction/design managers – none of
whom have been certified in data-driven design methods.
EC

This admittedly rosy scenario presupposes that our profession organise itself
in ways as yet unseen to accomplish three ends:
SP

1. a strategic focus on key social challenges

2. the intelligent deployment of technology in service of that focus
3. the integration of academic, professional and technical resources used in
concert toward those ends.

In these circumstances, AI technology is not just an available tool, but more

importantly a catalyst of change in standards, relationships and processes, and an
opportunity to synchronise education, certification and subsequent professional
training in technology suitable for 21st-century design and building.

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112 MACHINE LEARNING

2.4.4:
TALLY
CARBON BIM
ASSESSMENT
TOOL THAT
EVALUATES
EMBODIED
CARBON IN
BUILDING
MATERIALS
FROM A
DIGITAL
CONCEPTUAL
DESIGN IN
REVIT

EN
IM
EC
SP

Option 1: Corrugated Shingle Cladding

Option 2: Translucent Panel Cladding (selected)

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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2.4 EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION AND TRAINING 113

EN
IM
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

EC

Results Per Life Cycle Stage, Itemised by CSI Division

SP

2.4.5:
FRDM, AN
AI-BASED
TOOL FOR
FINDING FORCED
LABOUR IN THE
MANUFACTURING
SUPPLY CHAIN

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114 MACHINE LEARNING

EN
IM
EC
SP

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115

>> JUST AS ACCELERATING STORAGE AND PROCESSING

CAPABILITIES OF TODAY’S COMPUTERS HAVE VIVIFIED
MACHINE INTELLIGENCE, THOSE CAPABILITIES IN TURN
BRING THE POTENTIAL OF EXPONENTIALLY MORE PRECISE
AND INSIGHTFUL PROTOCOLS TO DESIGN, SUGGESTING THAT
EN
IM
COMPUTERS (AND, ONE HOPES, THEIR HUMAN MASTERS) MAY
BECOME MUCH MORE SKILLED AT NOT JUST PROJECTING THE
FUTURE STATE OF A BUILDING, BUT IN PREDICTING ITS
BEHAVIOUR. <<
EC
SP

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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>> THE INEVITABLE ADDITION OF ARTIFICIAL
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

INTELLIGENCE TOOLS AND ‘BIG DATA’ IN

THE BUILDING INDUSTRY WILL CHALLENGE

EN
TOMORROW’S ARCHITECTS TO RE-EXAMINE
THE CLASSICAL DEFINITION OF THEIR
IM
OBLIGATION TO DEFINE THE ‘DESIGN INTENT’
OF A PROJECT. AT THIS STAGE, ARCHITECTS
LEAVE MANY OF THE IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR
EC

IDEAS – FOR CONSTRUCTION AND EVENTUALLY

BUILDING OPERATIONS – TO BE RESOLVED
SP

AND REFINED BY OTHERS. AI TOOLS ARE

LIKELY TO ACCELERATE THE USE OF DATA-
DRIVEN EVIDENCE TO AUGMENT THE PRECISION
OF DESIGN, GIVE ARCHITECTS GREATER
UNDERSTANDING OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE
ACROSS THE MANY DIMENSIONS OF PROJECT
DELIVERY AND RAISE EXPECTATIONS OF THE
RESULTS. THE PROFESSION CAN DECIDE TO
SEE THESE OPPORTUNITIES AS AN ADVANTAGE
OR A THREAT TO ITS AGENCY. <<

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117

When Alberti defined the architect’s design of a building as ‘conceived in the

mind, made up of lines and angles, and perfected in the learned mind and
imagination’,1 he centred those responsibilities on the abstract projection of
a future state, which, according to Carpo, was to be translated from idea to
concrete result by virtue of the architect’s ‘sound advice and clear drawings’.2
Carpo, channelling Alberti, further explains:

>> Designers first need drawings and models to explore, nurture and
develop the idea of the building … (those) models should also be used
to consult experts and seek their advice; as revisions, corrections and
new versions accumulate, the design changed over time; the whole
project must be examined and re-examined… The final and definitive
version is attained only when each part has been so thoroughly

be for the worse. 3 <<

In Carpo’s interpretation we find three important architectural strategies:

EN
examined that any further addition, subtraction or change could only
IM
1. The use of abstraction, in the form of models and drawings, to
memorialise ideas.
EC

2. The incorporation of outside expertise in completing the design so it is

suitable for construction.
3. Designing in successive iterations to refine the project until it could not
possibly be adjusted for the better.4
SP

Today’s architects use much the same approach, bolstered by various digital
armaments, but what happens when those tools become agents of design?

THE AI-ENABLED DESIGNER

Let us assume that an architect by, say, the year 2030 has a complement
of AI-enabled tools at her disposal, along with significant advancements
in the resolution, precision and flexibility of modelling platforms that one
hopes would be the logical successors of today’s BIM. While there may be a
conceptual breakthrough, some time in the future, in what I have described
as ‘cognitive’ AI platforms that can reason inferentially about the complex
interactions that comprise a building, let us assume that by 2030 we only are
at the point of useful architectural versions of ‘undeniably single-mindedly
successful’5 platforms like today’s language and game-playing software, for
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-

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118 MACHINE LEARNING

example GPT-3 or AlphaGo.6 Such systems would be tightly tied to design

modelling/representational platforms and their data, and receive training
from other information sources like engineering systems, real-world data
collection about context from LIDAR or GIS, construction management sources
that describe process and results from contractors, and building operations
data from existing projects controlled by sensor-driven building management
and control systems. These systems are likely to be semi-autonomous, cloud-
based agents that operate in the background of the architect’s process,
appearing when the architect demands some piece of insight or analysis.

While it is impossible to accurately predict what will comprise this new set of
AI-empowered tools, Table 3.1.1 summarises a few speculative suggestions
designed to sketch the potential future of autonomous, AI-based tools.

EN
Notably absent from this list, save perhaps the last item, are systems tasked
with generating entire design solutions (at any scale) for a project. A central
thesis of this book is that such systems will not be useful until far in the
IM
future – if at all. They are unlikely to provide useful insights and present an
unnecessary existential threat to architects. The world is already populated
with many not-quite or barely competent buildings; the creation of a design
EC

generator capable of even simple buildings is likely to have unintended

and unpleasant consequences for the profession. And with so many other
opportunities, energies are best focused elsewhere – augmenting the design
process to improve the performance and results of design and building.7
SP

THREE NEW DIMENSIONS OF DESIGN

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

These AI examples suggest that Alberti’s components of the design process

– representation, iteration and expertise – will be transformed as intelligent
systems that augment (but do not replace) the central role of the designer.
First, as has already been seen in our now data-rich world, the extensive
availability of information in digital form, combined with the predictive and
analytical power of AI systems, will make the role of evidence in supporting
design decisions much more apparent. While, as I have argued previously,
the credibility of design decisions stemmed primarily from the (presumably)
sound judgement and intuition of an experienced architect, 8 those
judgements will need to be substantiated, at least in part, by evidence and
analysis to back them up. The built environment has traditionally disgorged a
collection of ambiguous, heterogenous data sets, but the ability of AI systems
to divine and understand patterns within it gives architects the opportunity to

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3.1 THE OBJECTIVES OF DESIGN 119

AI-BASED TOOL CAPABILITY TRAINING DATA

ZONING AND PLANNING ANALYSER EVALUATES CONFORMANCE TO PLANNING CODE, RECORD OF

SPECIFIC PLANNING AND ZONING VARIANCES, EXISTING BUILDINGS
CONSTRAINTS OF THE PROJECT IN SIMILAR JURISDICTIONS

BUILDING CODE EVALUATOR CHECKS EMERGING SCHEME FOR STANDARD CODES AND LOCAL
CONFORMANCE TO BUILDING/LIFE IMPLEMENTATION, EXAMPLES OF
SAFETY PERFORMANCE CONFORMING CONFIGURATIONS
FROM OTHER PROJECTS

SPATIAL COORDINATOR CHECKS 3D COORDINATION OF CLASH ANALYSIS OF CURRENT

BUILDING ELEMENTS WITH DESIGN SCHEME AND EXAMPLES
AN UNDERSTANDING OF WHEN FROM OTHER PROJECTS OF
CONFLICTS ARE PROBLEMATIC APPROPRIATE AND PROBLEMATIC
INTERFERENCES IN PLENUMS AND
OTHER SPACES

EN
CARBON IMPACT CALCULATOR COMPUTES GENERATED AND ENERGY AND CARBON
EMBODIED CARBON IN THE DESIGN CALCULATIONS AND STANDARDS,
RECORDS FROM OTHER PROJECTS,
SUPPLY CHAIN AND MATERIAL
DATABASES

MEANS AND METHODS EVALUATOR EXAMINES THE CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE

IM
CONSTRUCTABILITY/SEQUENCING INFORMATION FROM BUILDERS AND
AND PROCEDURES NECESSARY TO PRODUCT SYSTEM MANUFACTURERS,
CONSTRUCT A GIVEN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION SIMULATION AIS.
ELEMENT TO TEST ITS VIABILITY
DURING DESIGN
EC

PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS AND EXAMINES CHARACTERISTICS AND PAST PROJECT RECORDS,

SPECIFICATION GENERATOR RECOMMENDS POSSIBLE MATERIALS MATERIAL AND SPECIFICATION
AND PRODUCTS AND COORDINATES DATABASES, PRODUCT
THE NECESSARY SPECIFICATIONS MANUFACTURING INFORMATION,
SUPPLY CHAIN AVAILABILITY
SP

DATA

COST MONITOR AT THE PROPER LEVEL OF CONSTRUCTION COST DATA FROM

RESOLUTION9 PROJECTS THE COST PROVIDERS AND PAST PROJECTS;
OF CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION BUILDING OPERATIONS DATA FROM
EXISTING PROJECTS

SUPPLY CHAIN AVAILABILITY WORKING WITH THE PRODUCT MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLY
PROBE RECOMMENDER, EVALUATES THE STREAM SHIPPING AND
SUPPLY CHAIN CONSTRAINTS OF A MANIFESTS, CERTIFICATION
PRODUCT SELECTION, INCLUDING DATA, LABOUR STANDARDS INPUTS
AVAILABILITY, COST AND FORCED FROM LOCAL CONDITIONS, MODELS
LABOUR ISSUES. OF PAST PROJECTS

SKETCH PROBLEM SOLVER BASED ON PARAMETERS SET BY EXAMPLES OF SIMILAR

THE DESIGNER, GENERATES CIRCUMSTANCES IN DESIGN
ALTERNATIVES FOR A GIVEN MODELS OR EXISTING BUILDINGS
DESIGN PROBLEM AND PROVIDES
MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE AND
SUITABLE FIT FOR PURPOSE

3.1.1:
FUTURE
AI-BASED
TOOLS

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120 MACHINE LEARNING

generate and leverage just such evidence. And since many of today’s clients
rely on AI data systems to run their enterprises, architects will be expected
to do the same to substantiate the decisions that form the design.

Alberti has asserted that the architect should produce designs that are
perfectly ready for a builder to enact physically. At the end of the design
process, Carpo interprets that:

>> This is when all revisions and the final blueprint (as we would have
said until recently, both literally and figuratively) is handed over to the
builders. Thenceforth, no more changes may occur. The designer is no
longer allowed to change his mind, and builders are not expected to
have opinions on design matters. They must build the building as is –
as it was designed and notated. 10 <<

EN
The master builder of Brunelleschi’s ilk, a central repository of all things design
and construction and the maker of every decision, gives way to the architect,
IM
generator of complete, immutable and clearly depicted ideas.

If only. There is a profound mismatch between Enlightenment aspiration and

EC

the realities of modern construction, where design documents are a frequent

source of contention and the architect is relegated as a subconsultant of
a contractor in the name of better control, while the builder has not just
opinions about design, but control over it. However, the advent of AI gives
SP

architects an interesting opportunity to close this gap and realise design ideas
with great fidelity, if not greater control, of the design-build relationship.

If architects will benefit from AI systems focused on specific tasks, it is equally

likely that our colleagues in construction will see similar progress, with AI-
driven systems automating aspects of construction in the field through
robotics and industrialised methods of digitally driven mechanisms. An AI that
plays brilliant chess can likely be repurposed to control a robot that installs
curtain walls, for example. In doing so, the procedural knowledge of building
that architects are oft accused of lacking will have been instantiated digitally
and will be accessible to them as an evaluative/performative measure of
the efficacy of their design.11 While sharing the ‘mind and imagination’ with
an AI, the architect can perfect the design with substantial new, accessible
understanding of how it can be built.
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,

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3.1 THE OBJECTIVES OF DESIGN 121

Finally, deploying evidence in combination with the predictive powers of AI

systems will make performance a profound objective of the modern design
process and its deliverables. Architects today operate in a mode that might
be characterised as ‘implicit’ performance: our work process is organised and
calibrated to produce physical artefacts (drawings) that lead to an object (a
building) that is hoped to achieve certain ends once complete, and those goals
are rarely explicitly defined as measurable objectives or outcomes. Implicit in
the design process are expectations that those goals will be achieved, costs
will be met, documents completed on schedule, materials properly specified
and codes conformed. At the same time, the resulting buildings consume
resources and produce carbon, require regular maintenance and staffing,
organise the circulation of people and materials, and most importantly
create platforms for their owner’s objectives: students learning, patients

EN
healing, goods selling. They contribute (or detract from) the environment,
economic health and social fabric of their locales. As AI systems learn from
the data derived from the built environment, and to the extent that these
characteristics model in predictive AI systems, architects get the ability to
IM
‘explicitly’ design projects towards improved ends, demonstrating a priori, by
virtue of the resulting simulations, that such outcomes are the result of the
design itself. And while the earliest opportunities may be of a more limited
EC

technical nature (as suggested in Table 3.1.1), more sophisticated systems will
model and evaluate larger, more complex contexts.

This power of prediction is perhaps the most important implication of AI

SP

for the design process. It seems likely that AI technology, and the building
industry data necessary to train it, will be in great supply by 2030. Prediction,
according to a recent analysis of AI implementation in business, ‘takes
information you have, often called “data”, and uses it to generate information
you don’t have’.12 ‘Information you don’t have’ might be the watchword of
today’s building industry.
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

BREAKING FROM ALBERTI’S DESIGN PROTOCOLS

Alberti’s design protocols of representation, iteration and instantiation of
expertise have not been dramatically transfigured by the first few waves of
technology, including even BIM. Representation is still centred on creation
of drawings, and while much of the resulting information is now digital, the
means by which it is generated – by an iterative refinement informed by
outside expert consultants – is today exactly as asserted c. 1450. The third
wave of digital tools, those driven by intelligent computation, will follow, but
dramatically break from these traditions.

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122 MACHINE LEARNING

EN
IM
EC
SP

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

3.1.2:
AI-SUPPORTED
STRATEGY
FOR GENERATING
OFFICE
LAYOUTS

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3.1 THE OBJECTIVES OF DESIGN 123

AI-enabled representation will stretch the definition of ‘model’, which once

referred to a scaled physical artefact (maquette), a mathematical simulation
of geometry (CAD) or a parametric, meta-data-infused simulation of building
components in three dimensions (BIM). An AI evaluation of a design will be a
predictive model that will substantiate design decisions that are represented
by more traditional means, but at the same time it will expand the range
of the architect’s instruments of service. Those AI models will be required
for both validation and as contributions to larger data repositories that can
further train other AIs.

An architect I once worked with compared the current iteration process of

design to a circular staircase. Looking straight down on it, you appear to be
going around in circles, but with each cycle you rise slowly toward the goal.
In today’s design environment, climbing those process steps is accelerated
by the inherent flexibility and accessibility of digital models and enhanced by
emergent strategies called generative design, where computerised scripts
generate alternatives by varying specific characteristics of a scheme. Properly
EN
IM
constrained – so as to not lead to the ‘systematic generation of useless
alternatives’ as César Pelli once described the misuse of CAD – AI-enabled
generative design will set its own constraints. It will be informed by the logic
EC

of previously approved schemes as a training set and simultaneously provide

evaluation of its own results. Design exploration will still demand choices by
humans to make decisions that solve ‘wicked’ problems, but the process will
be much more intelligent and systematic.
SP

Generative strategies that connect representation, iteration and instantiation

may be the most important implication of AI-supported design processes of
the future. Today’s modelling and analysis tools can only episodically optimise
limited parameters of a design challenge – adjusting the dimensions of a solar
shade to limit exposure and thereby reduce the size of a cooling system, for
example – but this is hardly a strategy for the complete design of the building
enclosure. Over time, AI systems will be able to manage multiple variables while
evaluating design representations created by the architects and engineers,
instantiating expertise while simultaneously recommending alternative
solutions that meet design objectives. As designers select solutions, these
systems will come to learn which combined strategies are best, and thereby
improve their performance – and that of their architect masters.

Consider the case of an architect coordinating the design of a mechanical/

electrical room (MER) in her project. That room, never big enough to satisfy

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124 MACHINE LEARNING

the engineers who fill it with complex equipment and connections, must be

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
integrated in 3D with the balance of the project. She must assure the systems
all fit, there is sufficient room for servicing the equipment, and that none of
the architecture, structure, lighting and fire suppression interferes with the
locations and pathways of the systems. An intelligent AI, trained on many
similar rooms and the components that often fill them, can do more than
just check the MER layout for clashes (a common feature of today’s BIM) but
identify potential operational problems, recommend potential configurations,
even strategise how to sequence and install the systems. Rapid simulation
and evaluation of these issues will speed the process and make a successful
solution more likely, improving over time as the AI systems ‘learn’ what is
best. Our architect can use the additional time made available to resolve the
proportions of the facade.

EN
Early AI efforts in the 1980s purported to create ‘expert systems’ that would
memorialise knowledge and insight of humans in computer code. Neither the
theory nor the technology were up to the task. By contrast, in our AI-enabled
IM
design future, sources of expertise that are today provided almost exclusively
by human consultants will be greatly expanded by the analytical insights that
computers can provide. While conceptual decisions that are more strategic
EC

in nature are best dispensed by human experts who can evaluate systems
approaches and large-scale choices, specific outputs can be provided for
specific tasks with particular inputs that result from well-understood rules. In
the examples above, evaluating the particulars of life safety code compliance
SP

(and, with it, the arrangement of fire sprinklers or rated corridors) might have
been provided by consultant with that expertise. Our designer of the future
will apply an AI overlay to her design to yield much the same results, faster,
and allowing for further iterations and resolution of the scheme in real time.
Her decisions will be catalogued by the assisting AI and guide successive work.

NEW OBJECTIVES, NEW OUTPUTS

At the heart of the potential future changes in the objectives of the design
process wrought by AI lie the implications of data and its use. Today’s
architects use digital tools to create data, translate it into various forms
like drawings or specifications, and dispense it as evidence of their design
decisions. When machines can consume, create and deploy data to assist
in those decisions, the models they create extend to and are entwined with
the descriptors of the design itself. The resulting capabilities can make the
results of design more precise, transparent and predictable. The balance of
this section will explore strategies for enabling these capabilities in ways that
further empower architects accordingly.

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3.1 THE OBJECTIVES OF DESIGN 125

3.1.3:
MECHANICAL
INFRA-
STRUCTURE
MODELLED IN
BIM FOR A
MODERN
HOSPITAL

EN
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

IM
EC
SP

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>> DIGITISATION OF THE BUILDING INDUSTRY
MAKES DATA MORE PORTABLE, TRANSMITTABLE

EN
AND, TO SOME DEGREE, FUNGIBLE. AI
SYSTEMS WILL REQUIRE LARGE SWATHES OF
SUCH DATA, FIRST FOR TRAINING AND THEN
IM
TO PERFORM. A GIVEN PROJECT GENERATES
DATA IN A WIDE VARIETY OF FORMATS,
EC

SCALES AND LEVELS OF RESOLUTION BY

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DISPARATE PLAYERS WITH A VARIETY OF

MOTIVATIONS TO SHARE IT, OR NOT.
SP

AS AI CHANGES THE DEMAND FOR AND

CONSUMPTION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION BY
ARCHITECTS, HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THEIR
RESPONSIBILITIES AND PROCESS? <<

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127

In 1994, my former employers at Autodesk organised about a dozen

companies across the AECO industry in an effort to address a growing
concern. The company’s increasingly ubiquitous CAD platform, AutoCAD©, was
becoming the data standard for the building industry with their proprietary
file format, .DWG. At the same time, the company was building a global
ecosystem of third-party developers to create additional functionality on top
of the AutoCAD© platform, and other software companies were looking to
consume AutoCAD© DWGs in their own systems. The file format itself was
understandably defended zealously by Autodesk, as much of their intellectual
property was contained in each file.

The 12 companies, including architects, mechanical equipment manufacturers,

engineers and at least one real estate developer, called their consortium
the ‘International Alliance for Interoperability’, and opened it to all members
by 1995.1 Their mission was to achieve the ability to seamlessly move data
between applications without translation or the need to duplicate DWG
functionality. Rebranded BuildingSMART in 2005, the global consortium writes
EN
IM
and distributes a data standard called Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs),
an attempt to create a common denominator exchange that can transport
relevant data between any software that has been written to generate or
EC

consume it. BuildingSMART’s efforts have turned from CAD data (DWG) to BIM
in past years,2 creating standard data exchanges and libraries designed to
make BIM more open.
SP

Achieving interoperability standards in the building industry, even given

BuildingSMART’s admirable global efforts, is a daunting task. By the late 1990s,
DWG had become the standard of data exchange in design and construction
powered by two divergent realities: the industry was turning to digital tools,
primarily AutoCAD©, but even more importantly, the vector of information
exchange for architects and engineers was still largely drawings, rather
than more robust data. This made the transmission of information via IFC
relatively simple, using common definitions of geometry, lightly dusted with
meta-data about that geometry. Given the explosion of digital tools today, the
problem, however, is much more complex, and accepted non-proprietary data
standards for the AECO industry have not been established.3

MORE SOFTWARE, MORE DATA, LESS COOPERATION

The move to BIM was but one part of the inevitable digitisation of AECO writ
large. Building things is an information-rich enterprise, and architects among
others had to wait until machines and networks were sufficiently powerful to

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128 MACHINE LEARNING

handle the required data. Cloud computing, high-speed interconnectivity

and capable mobile devices all have spurred a veritable explosion in digital
tools, formats, processes and even hardware.4 Standards for building
information, analogue or otherwise, vary widely from country to country.
This makes the mission of BuildingSMART even more challenging, despite
their new branding as enablers of the ‘full benefits from digital ways of
working in the built asset industry’.5

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
However, what became apparent as architects and their collaborations
began using larger collections of digital tools was that data exchange and
relationships were not just a function of technical standards. Each constituent
of the building process has its own contract and risk models, tools, data
expectations, representational schema, content and business expectations,

EN
and is digitising at its own pace and in its own terms.

In 2004, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology published a

report purporting to identify an annual cost of $15.8 billion lost to software
IM
interoperability in the capital projects industry. The report gained significant
notoriety, and certainly brought attention to the process inefficiencies of
non-interoperability among software used for building. It failed, however, to
EC

address the underlying structural questions in the industry – discontinuity

in business models, disaggregation in the supply chain, conflicting risk
management strategies and lack of optimisation incentives in project delivery
– that plague construction,6 all of which are strong disincentives to work
SP

together with data.

Those same challenges of cooperation and integration can be seen more

broadly in the structure and use of data in the building industry, and especially
for architects. Being careful not to create too much responsibility or risk for
construction, while managing limited fees with which to produce information,
design data is held closely when released at all. Other ‘learned’ professions
carefully generate, curate and consume knowledge about their disciplines:
databases of case law, medical research about treatments and outcomes or
pharmaceutical efficacy. An attorney researching the legal precedents for her
client can explore a complete, cross-referenced database of every relevant
legal decision in the history of jurisprudence (see Figure 1.3.3). Architects have
access to no such central data. The move towards interoperability was a plea
to play nicely together, but not to share any toys.

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3.2 CREATING, CONSUMING AND CURATING DATA 129

SUBCONTRACTOR 3.2.1:
INPUT AN IMAGINED
FUTURE OF
BIM INTER-
OPERABILITY,
IN 2013 7

ARCHITECTURAL
MODEL

SUBCONTRACTOR
INPUT

STRUCTURAL
ENGINEER’S
MODEL EN MEP ENGINEER’S
MODEL
IM
INTEROPERABLE
MODEL
EC

SUBCONTRACTOR
OPERATIONS and INPUT
MAINTENANCE
DATA

FACILITIES
SP

MANAGEMENT
UPDATES

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130 MACHINE LEARNING

3.2.2:
PRECONDITIONS OF INTEROPERABLE DATA
COMPONENTS
OF A The advent of machine learning-based AI systems demands that our industry
POTENTIAL
DATA TRUST
not just share toys but builds a new sandbox in which to play with them. This
FOR THE is the first and most important precondition of moving towards and taking
BUILDING complete advantage of the power of AI for architects and other players in
INDUSTRY
the building enterprise. The ability to leverage the potential of AI lies in the
profession working closely with industry partners who might also benefit, and
sharing data to do so in responsible ways.

The problem, of course, is the other external factors, not the least being
underlying motivations (or lack thereof) to share data. We will address some
of the structural risk and reward questions in Chapter 3.5, but for purposes of

EN
this discussion the issue is diagrammed in Figure 3.2.2, which represents four
hypothetical architectural projects that are otherwise unrelated. While there
is some motivation to allow the project data generated within your office
to roam more freely in the domain of the project, there is no structure nor
IM
incentive to organise or share it beyond that limited use.

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
EC

INDUSTRY
DATA TRUST
SP

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3.2 CREATING, CONSUMING AND CURATING DATA 131

At the centre of the diagram is a proposal to address this issue, which must
be solved in order for AI to have any real chance of adoption or use in
architecture or the allied building disciplines: a cross-industry data trust that

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
would be the steward of a global building industry information resources.
The concept of data trusts has evolved in the last several years to address
questions of information coherence, privacy and fiduciary responsibility
in circumstances where individuals contribute their personal data that is
then used, for commercial purposes, by third parties. A data trust is an
independent, third party who collects, manages, anonymises and provides
access to such a large-scale collection of data:

>> Typical use cases for data sharing are fraud detection in financial
services, getting greater speed and visibility across supply chains,
improving product development and customer experience, and
combining genetics, insurance data, and patient data to develop new
EN
digital health solutions and insights. Indeed, the research has shown
that 66% of companies across all industries are willing to share data.
IM
Nevertheless, sharing sensitive company data, particularly personal
customer data, is subject to strict regulatory oversight and prone to
significant financial and reputational risks. 8 <<
EC

While it is unlikely that 66% of architects, or contractors for that matter,

would be willing to share data today, the benefits of access to a central global
repository of project data, properly anaesthetised for attribution, would
SP

be too great to pass up, as both a useful reference tool and the necessary
information infrastructure to begin AI in earnest. And of course, the challenges
presented by European data sharing standards must be overcome.

Such a data trust would, by necessity, need to be cross-disciplinary and

include information from designers, builders, subcontractors, product
manufacturers and suppliers, and operating building owners; the entire
supply chain that builds assets. For architects, there is marginal utility in
an ‘architecture only’ data set, as it is likely to be sparse and inconsistently
curated. And if my experience of years as a technology vendor is any
indication, most architects are highly sceptical – and unwilling to pay for –
new, disruptive technologies, especially in comparison with their colleagues
in the building supply chain – engineers, contractors, subcontractors. The
architecture business is small, relatively unprofitable and generally unwilling
to invest in disruptive technologies, creating a classic chicken-and-egg
dilemma in establishing the necessary foundations of artificial intelligence.

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132 MACHINE LEARNING

Thus cross-industry cooperation is necessary for both data assembly and AI

platforms. With the exception of the decision by Autodesk to invest, initially,
$133 million in Revit and then develop that platform first for architects, there
has been scant history in the technology of major investment in new software
or platforms for architects, per se. So while there might be short-term comfort
in the idea that perhaps it is too expensive to invest in AI that would replace
architects as individual contributors, there is clearly benefit in data sources and
AI platforms suited for the entire industry and it is more likely that investment
will be made by vendors to address a broader market of customers.

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
BUILDING AND USING TRUSTABLE DATA
So let us assume that some combination of industry inspiration, government
support and academic research has yielded, in our imaginary AI year of 2030,
3.2.3:
PROJECT DATA
FLOWS AND
THE DATA
EN
a global building industry data trust where firms are paid to contribute data,
IM
TRUST

DATA TRUST INFORMATION STRUCTURES

EC

ALTERNATIVE,
DESIGN AUTONOMOUS,
GENERATION, CONTSRUCTION
TASK OPTIMISED ASSET
EVALUATION, AUTOMATION
AUTOMATION OPERATION
SELECTION
SP

AI – ENABLED PROCESSES
FOR PROJECTS
DATA FLOWS
FROM PROJECT
GLOBAL BUILT AI USE TO THE
ASSET DATA TRUST TRUST

DATA FLOWS AI ENABLED TRANSACTION LAYER

FROM PROJECT
SOURCES TO
THE TRUST PROJECT-BASED
COMMON DATA
ENVIRONMENTS
DATA SOURCES FROM
PROJECTS

MODELS, SCANNING, EVALUATION, CONSTRUCTION BUILDING

DRAWINGS, IMAGES AND SIMULATION, MANAGEMENT CONTROL, I.O.T.,
DESIGN REALITY ANALYSIS DATA AUTOMATION
ASSETS CAPTURES DATA

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3.2 CREATING, CONSUMING AND CURATING DATA 133

and in exchange have access to that data and the AIs that have been trained
to use it. Let us further assume that there is enough useful data in the trust
that it begins to enjoy widespread adoption and grows with each significant
project designed or built, worldwide. Designers, builders, their supply chain
and building owners all contribute data that results from their work.

This new relationship is described in Figure 3.2.3, an elaboration of

Figure 1.4.2.

The data sources created by a project team, including data from modelling,
analysis and other artefacts of architectural design, would be contributed to
the data trust. Assuming that its use has become widespread, we might expect
some standardisation of software, but I suspect the continued explosion

EN
of tools that will result from the widespread digitisation of the industry will
make this challenging. It is more likely that AI itself may provide the means to
standardise and conform project data from architects and others before it is
contributed to the common cause.
IM
Training an AI to recognise a representation of, say, a window in a BIM
model, purchase order or shop drawing (if such a thing exists in the future)
EC

across those data sets is a question of pattern matching – something

machine learning systems do well. One imagines an AI-based ‘transaction
layer’ shown in the diagram, which would collect, translate and standardise
project data into consistent relationships and formats, and would be an
SP

excellent opportunity for supervised learning, combined with BIM and other
evolving model typologies, for next-generation AI platforms. And if such a
capability could evolve, it would also improve the project-based common
data environments used by individual architects, creating integrated
representations of a project before that data streamed, at the appropriate
point, into the data trust itself.

An architect would therefore access and consume information, in this

construct, in three ways:

1. At the level of the individual project, as a result of the development of the

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design.
2. From the data trust, for both reference and to deploy AI-assisted tools
(like, for example, the cost estimating and analysis tools described earlier).
3. From outside data sources that can inform the development of the
design, like economic models of the project context, weather data or
information about the availability of site utilities.

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134 MACHINE LEARNING

DESIGN CREDIBILITY
When structural engineers began to rely on software for routine calculations,
the credibility of those results relied not so much on the regulation of or
promises by the technology vendors but rather on that the engineer herself
was responsible for the output of those systems and any errors that might
occur as a result of their use. Just as BIM has now become a tool that, under
the duty of care, an architect may be expected to use on a project,
AI-produced results will become part and parcel of the architect’s
professional judgement.

However, at least in today’s AI systems, the complexity of the data structures

that comprise neural networks are too great for humans to really understand,

EN
and those systems are trained with enormous data sets and measured by the
validity of the outputs, not the specific computations that produced them.
Kate Crawford, who writes on the challenges of AI implementation, describes

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this challenge well: ‘In the case of AI, there is no singular black box to open, no
IM
secret to expose, but a multitude of interlaced systems of power. Complete
transparency, then, is an impossible goal.’9
EC

Opacity will make it impossible, in my view, for architects or others to rely

on these systems without some sort of third-party validation of their results.
Should the building industry, with architects as important contributors, decide
to build a global data trust to drive AI, a component of that trust would include
SP

entities who would extensively test and certify the results of these systems
before releasing them into the wild. The future leaders of BuildingSMART have
a much bigger enterprise on their hands.

Beyond the proximate concerns of professional efficacy and certification,

much work is currently underway to understand and evaluate the social
and ethical dimensions of AI for decision-making. There are two important
dimensions of this work. First, AI systems are trained from data that is the
result of ‘real world’ inputs. Current natural language systems such as GPT-3
or facial recognition systems build their networks from scraping data, text
or photographs from the internet, and as such that data has, inherently,
the structural biases of its contributors. Princeton computer scientists who
research this idea call it ‘veridical’ bias,10 and suggest not only that is it is
endemic in the world’s data structures, but also a potential dashboard to
understand social bias itself.11

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3.2 CREATING, CONSUMING AND CURATING DATA 135

A second dimension of AI only now beginning to be understood is its

implications on the environment. In the now famous paper that resulted
in her being fired from Google, computer scientist Timnit Gebru argues
that the inherent environmental implications of building AI systems
are underappreciated and accrue to the detriment of underprivileged
communities who do not benefit from them. Calling natural language AIs like
GPT-3, upon which Google increasingly relies, ‘stochastic parrots’, Gebru and
her co-authors recommend that AI systems be designed to acknowledge the
enormous contribution to atmospheric carbon they contribute by virtue of
their intensive training, and rigorously curated to design out the inherent bias
of available training data. Given that, for example, much of the content in the
proposed data trust would likely be sourced from Western projects initially,
carefully tending this data to be free of its obvious neo-liberal dynamics will
be critically important.12 Crawford further argues that the damage to the
environment of extractive mining necessary to build the enormous compute
EN
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infrastructure of AI is an externality that should be reflected in its cost and

development.13
IM
THE FUTURE OF DATA
With the advent of artificial intelligence systems, the building industry
EC

should be strongly motivated to share data beyond the solving of the near-
term problem of the inefficiency that results from incompatible formats.
Generating, consuming and properly curating digital design, construction
and building operations data will allow these systems to be properly
SP

trained, and then unleash real power of computation for design. Doing so
is an enormous opportunity for architects and their industry collaborators
and comes with numerous pitfalls. However, perhaps the benefits of next
generation technologies will finally motivate them to address and solve
the larger questions of collaboration and integration, as well as ethical and
environmental responsibility, that creating such a data source demands.

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>> AI WILL EXTEND THE RANGE OF AUTOMATED
PROCESSES AVAILABLE TO ARCHITECTS AND
CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OTHER ASPECTS
OF OUR WORK TO BE FULLY AUTONOMOUS,
OPERATING IN PARALLEL WITH HUMAN
COUNTERPARTS. SUCH CHANGES ARE LIKELY
TO FIRST OCCUR IN THE TECHNICAL
EN
IM
OBLIGATIONS OF ARCHITECTS, AND MORE
SPECIFICALLY IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
EC

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION, WHERE AI-

ENABLED, AUTONOMOUS ANALYSIS CAN IMPROVE
THE EFFECTIVENESS AND CREDIBILITY OF
SP

DESIGN AND PAVE THE WAY TO OTHER AI

CAPABILITIES. <<

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137

3.3.1:
DOXEL’S
CONSTRUCTION
SITE INSPECTION
ROBOT, THEIR
FIRST ITERATION
OF SCANNING/
AI-BASED FIELD
VERIFICATION1

In 2018, BuildTech2 start-up, Doxel, announced its first product, an AI-enabled

robot that, rolling around like a tiny tank that can traverse rough terrain and
even climb stairs, inspects a construction site using scanning and computer
EN
IM
vision. It compares the results to BIM-based design information to determine
construction progress on site. With the tagline ‘Artificial Intelligence for
Construction Productivity – Software that inspects quality and tracks progress
EC

so you can react in minutes, not months’,3 this system purports to evaluate the
completeness, precision and installed value of work in place, automatically.

Meanwhile, in the analogue world of humans, standard services contracts

for architects stipulate the architect’s responsibility for construction
SP

administration (emphasis added):

>> Carry out visual site inspections, as stated in item F of the Contract
Details, to review the general progress and quality of the works
as they relate to the architectural design and issue site inspection
reports to the Client. (RIBA Standard Professional Services Contract 2020) 4

The Architect shall visit the site … to become generally familiar with
progress and quality of the portion of the Work completed, and to
determine, in general, if the Work observed is being performed in
a manner indicating that the Work, when fully completed, will be
in accordance with the Contract Documents. However, the Architect
shall not be required to make exhaustive or continuous on-site inspects to
check the quality or quantity of the Work. (AIA B101-2017)5 <<

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138 MACHINE LEARNING

While here in America we clearly have a penchant for more turgid contractual
definitions – a function of years of construction foibles and resulting litigation
– the overlap is clear. Doxel’s deep learning-enabled system is designed to
either dramatically augment, or eliminate altogether, the need for human
inspection of construction progress. It is a perfect example of the potential
of AI in the design-to-construction process continuum: a Doxel robot uses
computer vision and machine learning from other projects and related BIM,
looking for something very specific (‘is that column installed in the right
place?’), and creates analytical results more quickly, cheaply and accurately
than a person walking the construction site twice a day – an obligation
specifically excluded from the AIA’s definition of construction observation.

MISPLACED ANXIETIES

EN
Doxel’s value proposition – understanding and managing construction faster
and more accurately – fits several trends that AI in building industry is likely to
follow. Early investments in AI systems are:
IM
» predominantly in the construction space (where there is more money
spent, and to be had)
EC

» focused on well-defined problems with technical inputs and outputs,

and
» operates in the intersection of originating digital design data and
construction execution (start with BIM, add computer vision, then
SP

measure progress).

3.3.2:
DOXEL
ANALYSIS OF
CONSTRUCTION
COMPLETENESS6
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3.3 TASKS, AUTOMATED 139

The technical emphasis of this system, and many to follow, was anticipated
early in the last technological transition to BIM by the architect Patrick
MacLeamy, who created what is now known as the ‘MacLeamy Curve’, as seen
in Figure 3.3.3.

Originally an argument for the efficacy of BIM for architects, MacLeamy posited
that since the greatest value of the architect’s work was early in the design
process – where important decisions have the best chance of positively affecting
results without disrupting progress – the bulk of our work process and value
should shift to the earlier phases in the design-to-construction schedule.
Further, he predicted that BIM would automate much of the production of
technical documents and other information needed by contractors, making
work in that portion of the scope of service far less valuable.

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EN
AI systems like Doxel’s, which autonomously perform technical tasks that once
required humans, is a logical extension of this same argument. However, while
construction progress evaluation will clearly benefit from additional, digitally
IM
enabled help, a construction site is technically, geographically and, to some
extent, politically complicated in a way that our little tank is unlikely to be able
to fully understand. So our human architect, continuing to act on behalf of
EC

the client to protect her interests during construction, will continue to have
SP

3.3.3:
THE MACLEAMY
CURVE

PD: Pre-design
SD: Schematic design
DD: Design development
Effort / Effect

CD: Construction documentation

PR: Procurement
CA: Construction administration
OP: Operation

Ability to impact cost &

functional capabilities
Cost of design changes
Traditional design process
Preferred design process
PD SD DD CD PR CA OP

Time

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140 MACHINE LEARNING

a role even here (despite the likely reduction of human-required production

tasks during the creation of working drawings, as argued in Chapter 1.5). In
any case, since the technical aspects of design and construction – including
document production and coordination, technical evaluation like code
compliance or coordination, and managing and evaluating the information
flow from the construction process – are the most likely candidates for AI-
driven task automation, I remain convinced that anxiety by architects about
being replaced as designers by autonomous AI is at best misplaced, and this
argument was anticipated by MacLeamy in 2003.

RECONSIDERING RELATIONSHIPS
In Chapter 1.6, I defined the architect in terms of her relationships with four
key constituents:

1.
2.
EN
As a protector of the public’s health, safety and welfare.
As an agent expert to the client.
IM
3. As a guide and translator of design intent to the builder.
4. As a manager/leader/integrator to the balance of the design team.
EC

Each of these roles requires the innate human ability to understand context,
manage relationships and make trade-offs and judgements; these are
tasks that are precisely the opposite capabilities of AIs, and particularly those
whose neural networks require training in large, well-curated data sets. The
SP

multi-valent responsibilities of the architect, writ large as in this definition, are

therefore unlikely to be replaced wholesale by computers, hence the argument,
consistent with Susskind, about task replacement: limited tasks, perhaps, but
complete supplanting by autonomous computerised agents, certainly not; and
where tasks are AI-involved, they will be of a technical nature.

Of these four archetypal relationships which anchor the architect firmly

in project delivery models, such technical task automation will alter most
significantly the connection and obligations between the architect and the
contractor/building supply chain. That relationship is the most transactional
of the lot, characterised largely by exchanges of information, with the levels
of precision and completeness often contested. AI systems will characterise,
catalogue and eventually measure the quality of these interactions and
connections in an effort to make those exchanges more effective. As the
construction process is further automated by AI-assisted devices and systems,
the demand for specific design information that is suited as input to those

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3.3 TASKS, AUTOMATED 141

systems will increase, further tying architectural design to construction

production in the name of efficiency. And as the demands for more intelligent
supply chain decisions and management increase in an era of climate change,
reduction of toxicity or even attempts to reduce forced labour, the architect’s
specification of materials will tie even more closely with an understanding of
the supply itself. Contractors will therefore come to rely on architects for such
intelligent decisions.7 This is an inversion of the relationship of technology to
design that emerged with the blob-makers of the 1990s, when the architect’s
digital shape-making tools made possible ever more elaborate forms that
were left to engineers and builders to actualise.

The UK tendency to novate the architect’s contract to the contractor after

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design, while simultaneously confusing and terrifying to this American

EN
architect, is consistent with the conclusion that design and construction can
be operationally bound more tightly in contract, procedure and technology. As
construction processes are more reliant on AI-based automation, the demand
for logical relationships between design information and decision-making will
IM
naturally gravitate toward the design-construction interface.

PROCEDURAL PRODUCTION AND ITS POSSIBILITIES

EC

So, an extension of this line of reasoning that includes MacLeamy’s thesis,

combined with the task analysis of the jobs of architects (see Figure 1.5.3 for
the complete version, and Figure 3.3.4 for production work), suggests that the
most likely opportunities for AI-based augmentation or automation of tasks
SP

is deep in the production phases of design, when a project is translated from

design intent to the information readied for the contractor.

The automation of selected tasks of working drawing production is the best

example to date of the implications of BIM in design. Working drawings
today are more precise, better coordinated, more accurate and useful to
contractors than their CAD predecessors, and BIM is a good platform, as both
a representational schema and a training ground, for AI to continue this trend.

As many of the tasks of the working drawing phase are procedural in nature,
it should be relatively straightforward to train AIs to perform them. Other
objectives of the hand-off between designer and builder will still demand
the judgement and coordination of the architect, who will be supported by
machine intelligence in areas where large data sets, pattern matching and
complex calculations and predictive algorithms could be of most use.

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142 MACHINE LEARNING

STANDARD SCOPES OF SERVICE

3 4 5 6
RIBA (UK) SPATIAL TECHNICAL NOT MANUFACTURING HANDOVER
COORDINATION DESIGN USED + CONSTRUCTION

DD CD PR CA NOT
AIA (US) DESIGN CONSTRUCTION PROCUREMENT CONSTRUCTION USED
DEVELOPMENT DOCUMENTS CONTRACT ADMIN

SERVICE CATEGORIES
DEFINITION

DESIGN

PRODUCTION

PROCUREMENT

CONSTRUCTION

OPERATION
EN
IM
TASK COMPONENTS
DETERMINING
CONFORMANCE TO THE BRIEF
EC

EVALUATING AND INTERGRATING

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

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PERFORMING ENGINEERING
ANALYSIS
EVALUATING AND MANAGING
PRODUCTION COSTS
SP

COORDINATING SPATIAL
& TECHNICAL SYSTEMS
COORDINATING SPATIAL
& TECHNICAL SYSTEMS
REVIEWING + APPROVING
TECHNICAL DOCUMENTS
REVIEWING CONSTRUCTION
PROGRESS

3.3.4: TASK PROCEDURAL

ANALYSIS
PROCEDURAL
OF THE
TO INTEGRATIVE
TECHNICAL/
INTEGRATIVE
PRODUCTION
STAGES INTEGRATIVE
OF THE TO PERCEPTIVE
ARCHITECT’S
WORK

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3.3 TASKS, AUTOMATED 143

To that end, consider the problem of construction cost projection, and

particularly the heated negotiations oft held between designers and builders
about conformance to target costs. The dimensions of this complex dance of
data, judgement and computation are sketched in Figure 3.3.5.

Just as BIM was anticipated to accelerate aspects of cost estimating by

automating the tasks of quantity take-off and calculation,8 the various
analytical tasks that converge to generate cost estimates, based on careful
analysis combined with professional judgement, can generate greater insight
and precision in cost projections – if AI were available in the following ways:

EN
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

IM
EC
SP

LABOUR
MATERIAL
COSTS

PROJECTED COST
OF CONSTRUCTION 3.3.5:
ANALYTICAL
ELEMENTS OF
CONSTRUCTION
COST

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144 MACHINE LEARNING

Quantity surveying: Design documents define design intent, and builders

must interpolate precise system characteristics, unspecified materials and
implied construction elements in order to price them. By training on data sets
that map construction documents to detailed previous take-offs, an AI could
create these mappings from working drawings and create more accurate and
historically informed bills of materials. The resulting data collections would be
the basis of further training of the systems.

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Market conditions: Macro-economic conditions introduce extreme volatility
in construction pricing. Global or local circumstances change the availability
of labour or the cost of materials more quickly than capital plans for projects
can respond. This volatility is demonstrated by the difference between
material purchase prices from manufacturers versus their cost as stockpiled

EN
in warehouses by builders in the US, as can be seen in Figure 3.3.6. At the time
of writing, material prices have jumped as much as 40% (timber) since January
2021, as the US economy recovers from the pandemic; a similar pattern was
seen in the recovery from the 2008 crisis. AI-based analysis and predictions,
IM
based on previous economic models and pricing profiles, could elucidate the
potential implications for pricing, bidding and market conditions that affect
cost models.
EC

Cost of labour and materials: The costs of both labour and materials are
estimated traditionally from historical information, but the actual pricing of
projects generated by builders is a combination of historical data, in particular
SP

competitive advantages or disadvantages based on the builder’s capabilities,

as well as larger market forces such as the availability of skilled workers and
other competitive pressures. A given builder or trade could train an AI from a
combination of past projects to create a more reliable and accurate projection
of such costs and map those projected costs to the designer’s digital models to
provide continuous cost modelling during the course of a project.

Supply chain conditions: The availability, price, performance and

suitability of building materials is subject to many conditions in the
delivery supply chain, from original sourcing to fabrication to delivery.
Carbon implications of both embedded carbon and transportation costs,
toxicity and labour equity (modern slavery) all affect the possibilities that
a given material can be supplied to a project properly. AI systems could
be trained on industrial material flow models, shipping manifests, bills
of materials for sub-systems, even labour assessments, to factor these
questions into cost projections of built assets.

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3.3 TASKS, AUTOMATED 145

Construction schedule: As most builders model the construction schedule

for projects in order to plan and manage the build, such schedules could be
training set for AI systems that would establish patterns and relationships
between building typologies, construction locations, specific combinations of
subcontractors and fabricators, and construction cost. The insights provided to
builders could be provided, a priori, to design teams to understand whether a
particular design was difficult or more expense to construct. Such information
would be particularly useful in the concept stage, but it would allow a valid
performance evaluation during technical production as well.

Build strategy: As contractors use increasingly sophisticated systems to model

the sequence and methods of construction, these ‘5D’ data sets instantiate
libraries of construction logic at a macro-scale. With sufficiently large training
sets they could be the basis for AI-generated construction planning. If the
resulting projective modellers, which would become familiar with a wide variety
of construction approaches and building types, could function as ‘constructability
evaluators’ via AI-enabled simulators and were available to architects, the
EN
IM
Albertian gap between intent and execution could be further closed.

The foregoing example, a speculation through the lens of a critical yet

EC

suboptimised dependency between design and construction, is meant to

reinforce the idea that AI systems will appear first, and be most useful and
efficacious, in the translation of design into technical performance, and
particularly with regard to construction. Given the well-trod conclusion
SP

that the construction enterprise is unproductive and unpredictable, such

improvements would be both welcome and embraced by architects, builders
and their clients alike.9

CONSTRUCTING AUTOMATION
The painting robot we examined in Chapter 1.4 signals important changes for
designers, not the least of which is the likelihood that their projects will be
festooned with more precisely applied colours and textures. As Negroponte
suggested in his early explorations of the automation of processes by
machines, a first step towards incorporating digital technology is to use
it to replicate an analogue process, and surely this is where our painting
robot will begin. However, Negroponte further speculated that once these
processes are fully integrated and understood, their capabilities will expand
far beyond what their originators could have anticipated.10 Our painting robot
will improve its technique by repeatedly painting surfaces and sharing the
lessons of its success and failures with other robots doing the same on other

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146 MACHINE LEARNING

-4

-6

-8

-10
EN
IM
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-12
JAN-11
MAR-11
MAY-11
JUL-11
SEP-11
NOV-11
JAN-12
MAR-12
MAY-12
JUL-12
SEP-12
NOV-12
JAN-13
MAR-13
MAY-13
JUL-13
SEP-13
NOV-13
JAN-14
MAR-14
MAY-14
JUL-14
SEP-14
NOV-14
JAN-15
MAR-15
MAY-15
JUL-15
SEP-15
NOV-15
JAN-16
MAR-16
MAY-16
JUL-16
SEP-16
NOV-16
JAN-17
EC

3.3.6: projects. Further insights will be supplied by data coming from the construction
SP

MATERIAL supervision robots made by Doxel and their inevitable competitors. Eventually,
PRICE
the robotic painter will have AI-automated, autonomous colleagues installing
VOLATILITY
IN THE US, and assembling other aspects of the construction project, and the procedures
2006–21 11 and protocols they generate could combine into an accessible, evolving source
of construction insight that could truly modernise building.

For architects, this is a profound implication. It is not the automation of their

tasks, so much as those of builders, that could close the divide between design
intent and construction execution, a divide that Alberti defined six centuries ago
and that has since characterised, or plagued, our industry. The instantiation of
construction logic makes it available to the robots that enact it on site, but also
to the designers who are configuring the eventual results of that robotic work.
Where today an architect projects the eventual state of her design through a
building information model, that design could be informed by a BIM connected
to a construction simulator that might answer questions from as small as ‘does
that fit’ to as large as ‘can that be built?’ In that sense, the task automation
potential of AI enlarges, rather than diminishes, the potential of design.

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3.3 TASKS, AUTOMATED 147

EN
IM
MAR-15
MAY-15
JUL-15
SEP-15
NOV-15
JAN-16
MAR-16
MAY-16
JUL-16
SEP-16
NOV-16
JAN-17
MAR-17
MAY-17
JUL-17
SEP-17
NOV-17
JAN-18
MAR-18
MAY-18
JUL-18
SEP-18
NOV-18
JAN-19
MAR-19
MAY-19
JUL-19
SEP-19
NOV-19
JAN-20
MAR-20
MAY-20
JUL-20
SEP-20
NOV-20
JAN-21
MAR-21
MAY-21
JUL-21
EC

3.3.7:
FOSTER +
SP

PARTNERS
USING A BOSTON
DYNAMICS
ROBOT FOR
CONSTRUCTION
PROGRESS
ANALYSIS11

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148 MACHINE LEARNING

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>> THE LABOUR OF KNOWLEDGE WORKERS
LIKE ARCHITECTS, AS WITH MANY OF THEIR
PROFESSIONAL COUNTERPARTS, WILL LOOK
DIFFERENT WHEN MACHINES CAN PERFORM
ARCHITECTURAL TASKS. THE TYPES OF LABOUR
AND LABOURERS, THE STANDARDS UNDER
WHICH THEY OPERATE AND THEIR
EN
IM
INTERACTIONS WITH PRACTICES AND PROJECTS
WILL DEVELOP AS DIGITAL PLATFORMS
EC

EVOLVE FROM INSTRUMENTS TO COGNITIVE

COLLABORATORS. <<
SP

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149

My first full-time job in an architect’s office was in 1979, the pre-CAD era, when
our work was taped to large drafting tables and prepared with plastic lead on
giant sheets of mylar. The small office in Charlotte, North Carolina was known
as a solid, if stolid, practice that did complete working drawings that resulted
in routine buildings which did not leak or miss their budgets. I was assigned to
help prepare construction documents for a bland shopping mall in Tennessee
that still haunts my dreams.

There were about 20 or so of us in the drafting room – which I hesitate to call a

studio, as there was so little design to speak of going on – at least two or three
of whom were architectural draughtsmen (no women). These were older guys,
some with architectural degrees, none with licenses, who drew and lettered
beautifully, knew a lot of about how to put a building together, could never be in

EN
front of a client and were constant sources of knowledge to the younger, better
educated but far less experienced architects-in-waiting like myself. In that era,
many offices of any size had folk like this, whose main job was to draw, leaving
all other architectural responsibilities to others. Late in my 15-month stint in this
IM
firm, the office manager began researching a new idea called ‘computer-aided
drafting’, which the draughtsmen dismissed entirely as a gimmick.
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EC

TECHNOLOGY AND DESIGN LABOUR FROM DRAFTING

TABLE TO BIM
Two decades later, these sorts of wise but unregistered drafters were largely
missing from practices, unable to make the transition to CAD. Their jobs were
SP

replaced by young, digitally enabled CAD operators who were unafraid of the
computer and had the skills to use it to draw. Almost no one in an architecture
firm was trained or hired at this point as a drafter; young designers in training
filled these roles. Just as today’s secretaries no longer do much typing but are
more general support staff, architectural jobs were no longer differentiated by

3.4.1:
THE DRAFTING
ROOM AT
SKIDMORE,
OWINGS &
MERRILL’S
OFFICE,
CHICAGO,
1958

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150 MACHINE LEARNING

production tasks (drafting) but more around roles and responsibilities (design,
construction administration, specifications).

As firms are completely reliant on technology of all sorts these days, there
are specialists in network management or even coordination of BIM data, but
such roles are limited and certainly do not contribute to billable work. And even
if yesterday’s ‘CAD monkeys’ are today’s ‘BIM monkeys’, BIM work is not routine
drafting, as using a BIM tool requires a strong understanding of how a building
goes together and how to properly represent it. But even today, while larger
firms are hiring specialists in data management or, in some cases, software
development, practice is largely devoid of technological specialists.

The advent of machine learning tools will reverse this trend. It will create

EN
demand for different sorts of architectural workers. As I have argued (see
Chapter 2.4) that artificial general intelligence (AGI) is far in the future –
particularly AGI that can step into the multi-faceted role of a proper architect
– AI systems in architecture will be specific to tasks, technical in nature and will
IM
support the broader enterprise of design. Those systems will require specialised
understanding of inputs, outputs, data demands and relationships of the AI
system to the broader infrastructure of design information. These are skills that
EC

architects trained as generalists are unlikely to understand, nor, frankly, have

much engagement with: the outputs of such systems will be of great interest;
the process by which they are generated, not so much. While it would be nice
to simply ask the 2030 version of Alexa, ‘How much carbon is embodied in my
SP

project?’ the route to that answer is likely significantly more complex.

TECHNOLOGY, SUPPLY AND DEMAND

I have argued up to this point that AI systems are likely to automate the
more routine aspects of technical drawing production, data and document
management, and information control. Just as today’s 3D modelling platforms
that generate high-resolution renderings have largely put professional
(analogue and) digital renderers out of business, those jobs in offices will
be lost.

However, there will be new jobs. Architecture will need experts who can
manage these systems in production, particularly in relation to affiliated AI-
based processes that will translate knowledge and insight from construction
back to design. Complex technical analysis and building performance
evaluation will be a necessary element of design generation. The dilemma

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3.4 LABOUR OF DESIGN 151

for practices will be mapping demand for the specialists to handle such work
and the available supply of talent. If an AI-based system is helping optimise
the carbon footprint or forced-labour-free supply chain procurement of your
building in the phase of conceptual design, that work is episodic at best, and
probably punctuated with interactions with other intelligent systems. The data
trust proposed in Chapter 3.2 will provide ubiquitous data, but using it well
will be challenge.

In a recent survey of architectural and engineering professionals in Europe

and the Middle East, 70% of firms reported that big data, data science and
machine learning were important emerging technologies.1 Far fewer are
actually doing anything about it. Those firms trying to realise actual work from

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AI are competing – with limited success, I suspect – with the global demand

EN
for data scientists and machine learning experts, many of whom earn starting
salaries well above those of their staff architects in UK practices.2 While
expertise in AI will grow in the next decade, matching supply and demand will
be a challenge.
IM
As Daniel Susskind argues in A World Without Work: Technology, Automation and
How We Should Respond (the successor to The Future of the Professions: How
EC

Technology Will Transform the Work Of Human Experts), machine intelligence

will, over time, take over responsibility for tasks rather than complete jobs.
However, the aggregate task elimination in architecture will eliminate jobs,
if for the simple reason that production-related activities such as creating
SP

working drawings or managing construction administration data comprise, at

least in the USA, as much as 35% of a typical fee for an architect’s services.3
Automating this work, at least under current business models, means fewer
workers. The so-called ‘canonical model’ described by Susskind – where jobs
destroyed by innovation are replaced by the jobs required to create the
new technologies – has given way to a new thesis, the so-called ‘Autor-Levy-
Murnane (ALM) Hypothesis’, which declares that the routine tasks of work will
be eliminated by computers, as those tasks are the easiest to teach machine
learning systems to replicate. Skilled workers, like my early drafting colleagues,
are eventually replaced, resulting in fewer jobs that do not reappear.4

Or at least fewer jobs will reappear than disappear, given the current demand
for architects. However, there is another scenario, where AI technology
empowers architects to the extent that demand for professionals – even those
doing different jobs, like their counterparts in the early days of CAD – will be
much higher. The history of BIM in the UK suggests that this might be the
case, as demonstrated in Figure 3.4.2.

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152 MACHINE LEARNING

44000 4500 00

4000 00
42000
Construction Value Designed (€1000)

3500 00
40000

Number of Architects
3000 00

38000 2500 00

36000 2000 00

1500 00
34000
1000 00

32000
5000 0

30000
2010 2011 2012

Number of Architects
2013 2014 2015
EN 2016 2017 2018

Construction Value Designed (€1000)

2019 2020
0
IM
3.4.2: Despite the inherent efficiencies introduced by BIM and its adoption driven by
DEMAND FOR the Level 2 requirements, which in theory should have decreased architectural
UK ARCHITECTS
EC

AND RELATED
positions, and even despite a drop in designed construction value in 2020,
CONSTRUCTION the number of architectural positions in the UK has steadily increased for a
VOLUME decade. Perhaps better work begets more employment.
DESIGNED 5
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SP

TALENT, SUPPLY AND DEMAND

Practice in the era of AI will therefore entail arbitraging the value of expert labour,
machine production and data. The profession will need to find a way to access
this talent across many scales of business, particularly since most firms, world-
wide, are relatively small, averaging less than ten staff each.6 While larger firms,
with more human and financial resources, may get to AI capabilities first, for real
change to be possible the wider profession must be able to access AI assets.

An intelligent design of the industry data trust described in Chapter 3.2 would
entail a central marketplace for such talent and the infrastructure to make
it accessible. The technologies of the so-called gig economy, which match
demand with capacity, are the template for such a system. Like ride- and
apartment-sharing services today, these systems use artificial intelligence
themselves to align unused resources with those who might need them. Given
that AI enactment in design practice will be task-oriented, perhaps the data
trust might manage such a platform as part of the value proposition it puts
forth to the global design industry.

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3.4 LABOUR OF DESIGN 153

3.4.3:
BUSINESS
MODEL OF
AIRBNB,
MATCHING
HOUSING
CAPACITY WITH
Pr
ofi TRAVELLER
le
,H Ac DEMAND
t
os ce ke st
Re
nt
t& ss ar q ue g
Ro to M in
in
g om M to Re nt e
ar s e
Fe
e ke c es R Fe
-3
%
t Ac

ee
2% F
-1 ice
+6 erv

More than a year of digitally enabled knowledge work by architects during the
EN S
IM
Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated that design work can be conducted with a
relatively low loss of efficiency, with staff working remotely and distributed
around the world. AI expertise could be similarly dispensed, making it more
EC

likely that this talent would be used fairly and effectively.

ETHICAL LABOUR AND AI

The architecture profession does not enjoy a sterling reputation for labour
SP

equity, and the advent of machine intelligence should not be seen as a

strategy to extend that poor record. Salaries relative to other learned
professionals are low,7 steady jobs as uncertain as the economy and even
the most well-known offices have well-earned reputations for labour abuse.8
In the US, most architectural workers are exempt from labour laws that
require employers to limit hours and provide minimum pay for overtime,
characterising them as ‘professional workers’. Doing rote CAD work, not so
much; wrangling an AI, absolutely true.

Like any disruptive technology, AI offers opportunities and threats to the

knowledge work of architects. As has been argued by my Yale colleague,
Peggy Deamer, many architectural workers, particularly those who are
unlicensed or less experienced, can be precarious workers whose work lives
are destabilised by long hours, low pay, competitions and the generally poor
management of human resources that many architects learn in the design
studios of school (where time is considered an unlimited resource).9 AI, like

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154 MACHINE LEARNING

many of the automation technologies of the past, can be deployed in the

interest of ruthless efficiency, with little consideration for the welfare of
workers; ask anyone working today in an Amazon warehouse.10 Systems that
match workers with jobs have been demonstrated to instantiate the biases of
the data set (like résumés of employed workers), denying qualified applicants
opportunities generated by machine-based hiring systems. Workers in the
extractive industries that drive modern computation are often exploited and
unlikely to see any benefit from the computers they supply.

In her ill-fated paper for Google, Timnit Gebru makes the case that AI
development must occur in parallel with an understanding of its broad
implications. She suggests:

EN
>> Work on synthetic human behavior is a bright line in ethical AI
development, where downstream effects need to be understood and
modeled in order to block foreseeable harm to society and different
social groups. Thus what is also needed is scholarship on the benefits,
IM
harms, and risks of mimicking humans and thoughtful design of target
tasks grounded in use cases sufficiently concrete to allow collaborative
design with affected communities. 11 <<
EC

Modelling downstream effects is what an AI-enabled future of design might

look like. In architecture’s case, the affected communities – including both
our clients and our workers, and the profession – working in concert with
SP

providers and the academy, would best heed her advice and begin plotting
the route to equitable AI today.

The ALM hypothesis (as discussed in Chapter 1.5) proposes that highly skilled
workers – like the ones that will create, develop and manage AI – will remain in
demand once machines carry out knowledge work. Very low-skilled but highly
localised jobs, like those in personal services or dining, will also remain. In
Susskind's 'massacre of the Dilberts', many jobs in between will be eliminated.
Most architectural jobs in this scenario are probably safe, but the society for
which we design buildings is likely to be dramatically affected. Like other issues
of social equity, it is best to add this question to the list that the profession must
address to responsibly design the built environment of the future.

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155

>> TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IN ARCHITECTURE

HAS CHANGED THE PROCESSES, BUT NOT THE
VALUE, OF THE ARCHITECT’S SERVICES,
WHILE THE BUSINESS MODELS OF PRACTICE,
WHICH ORIGINATED CENTURIES AGO,
EN
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IM
HAVE REMAINED STUBBORNLY IN PLACE.
AS THIS NEXT WAVE OF NEW TOOLS AND
EC

CAPABILITIES WROUGHT BY INTELLIGENT

MACHINE AUTOMATION BECOMES APPARENT, THE
PROFESSION HAS ITS BEST CHANCE TO BREAK
SP

THIS CYCLE BY REVISITING AND REVISING

ITS VALUE RELATIONSHIP TO THE BROADER
BUILDING INDUSTRY. <<

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156 MACHINE LEARNING

In his superb history of American architectural practice, Assembling the

Architect: The History and Theory of Professional Practice, George Barnett
Johnston explores the psyche of early 20th-century American architects
through the eyes of one Tom Thumtack, the fictional alter ego of architect
Frederick Squires, who wrote an illustrated volume about practice called
Architec-tonics: The Tales of Tom Thumtack, Architect. Tom expounds on the
anxieties of fees, as quoted by Johnson:

>> We’re paid on a percentage of the cost, but the capable architect
is the one who keeps down the cost. Therefore, by doing his best he
reduces his compensation… The client wants to keep the cost down, and
his architect must help him in this, but the less the cost of a particular
job, the less the compensation and the less likely to be the beauty of its

EN
execution from which the architect obtains his reputation. 1 <<

Tom was explaining the seeming illogic of a system of compensation for

architects that had, within it, two deep contradictions. First, when the
IM
architect’s fee is based on a percentage of construction cost, the harder the
architect works to bring the project into cost conformance, the less she is
paid. Second, in the cases so common today when said fee is converted into
EC

a lump sum, the client has transferred the financial risk of the fee over to the
architect, who perversely is now incentivised to work less, rather than more, to
service that client, and thereby preserve some remainder of the fee as profit.
SP

The idea that an architect should be paid in some proportion to the cost of
construction seems to have originated centuries ago in Europe. Johnston
explores this trajectory and quotes Benjamin Latrobe, the so-called ‘first
architect’ of the United States, European-trained, British immigrant to America:

>> It is in France, Germany & England the established custom of

Architect (in England, confirmed by many decisions of the Courts) to
charge for their works, 1., a commission of 5 prCent on the whole
amount of the expence incurred in executing their design, -2., a certain
sum for fair drawings, if furnished, according to their difficulty,
number, or beauty; -3., if the work be at a distance from the usual
residence of the Architect,-all traveling expences, & a certain sum pr
day for loss of time. 2 <<

The origins of today’s percentage-of-construction-costs fees, adjusted by

project complexity, plus reimbursable expenses of travel, are evident here and
remain in place on both sides of the Atlantic today.3
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3.5 VALUE PROPOSITIONS AND BUSINESS MODELS 157

COMMODITY RESISTANCE
It is hard to imagine another modern enterprise, even one so reluctant to
really modernise like architecture, whose business models are essentially
unchanged from their 18th-century precedents. Yet architecture, like much
of the construction industry, remains tied to a fundamental value strategy of
lowest first cost, where services are bid and purchased in a way not dissimilar
to steel, sheetrock or carpeting: maximum pressure on competitive price, with
far less attention paid to the value delivered, particularly over the cycle of a
project’s lifespan.

Neither of two immediate implications of AI for practice are particularly

sanguine for architects, given our seemingly intractable business model.
More productivity may provide short-term gains to the early adaptors, but
such competitive advantages are short lived when eventually available to all
competitors in the market and quickly fade.4 Should AIs replace jobs in the
architect’s office, commoditised fees will fall in proportion, or worse.5 Given
EN
IM
this inevitable economic logic, finding new value propositions and business
models will not just be nice benefits that accrue from these new technologies,
but rather an existential necessity for the profession itself. If neither CAD nor
EC

BIM inspired such change, will AI?

3.5.1:
KENT
ROCKWELL’S
SP

‘FEES: A
REDUCTIO
ABSURDUM’ FROM
ARCHITECTURE
AND BUILDING,
46, 19146
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158 MACHINE LEARNING

There is no question that those technologies improved the processes and,

in some ways, the results of architectural services. CAD made drafting more
accurate and efficient, while allowing architects to depict projects that were
technically and formally more complex. BIM has allowed all members of
the delivery team to generate, organise, integrate and exchange design
information at much higher levels of resolution and transparency. It also,
in some minimal way, begin to bridge the information gulf between design
and construction; builders who saw the value of 3D data began to request
it to assist their work. Other digital technologies have improved information
exchange and client-facing images of projects (think renderings or even virtual
reality models). Yet despite these improvements, the centuries-old methods
for computing architectural computation remains largely intact, suggesting
that these improved services have not translated into business terms, nor

EN
profit. The MacLeamy Curve, as described in Chapter 3.3, suggests that
the real value of design work lies early in the delivery process, despite the
relatively small degree of effort entailed there compared to production and
delivery stages. Perhaps AI will begin the value shift.
IM
A willingness to examine innovative business strategies for new services,
organisational strategies and even new products can translate the threat of
EC

AI into an opportunity to improve both our performance as professionals

and our business results, if we apply the same sort of creative thinking oft
reserved for the design studio to this problem.
SP

EXPLORING NEW VALUE

For the last several years we have offered a course at Yale called ‘Exploring
New Value Propositions of Design Practice’, where our students are asked
to interrogate the business models of architecture with the assumption that
better jobs can be done designing them. Each semester, teams of students
create what they believe to be the most provocative new models for practice,
in response to the question: ‘Where can the value of architectural services be
best translated into a business model?’ The projects are required to conform
to just two conditions: the proposal must be based on something that a
competent architect is capable of providing, and the compensation strategy
must completely abandon any vestige of commoditised pricing, so no fixed or
hourly fees allowed to make money.

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3.5 VALUE PROPOSITIONS AND BUSINESS MODELS 159

By definition, this second constraint eliminates any option to extrapolate

traditional practice, which is something of a pedagogical conceit intended to
push the students far from the comfort zone with which they are familiar by
dint of their professional experience and the businesses largely run by their
professors. It does not imply, however, that there are no approaches for
transfiguring traditional practice models towards new technologically inspired
value, an idea we will examine later in this chapter.

After a few years of teaching this class, several consistent strategic themes
emerged from the students’ research, which range across the opportunities of
services, organisation and products.7 These ideas were congruent in that they
could be mapped in relation to the connections between architects, clients
and builders, as described graphically in Figure 3.5.2, and included:

»
EN
verticalisation strategies, where the architect assumes her role plus at

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
least one other traditional delivery role
» supporting strategies, where the architect uses special skills, talents
IM
(and often technology) to provide a service to some part of the supply
chain (including other architects)
» spanning strategies, where a business derives value by creating an
EC

important connection between two sectors of the delivery model.

Should AI diminish the demand for architects, these approaches are a

sketchy roadmap for other opportunities. However, they also suggest that
SP

the disruptive power of autonomous computing through intelligent machines

might create new leverage and power for architects in the overall process of
making buildings. For example:

A robust, AI-enabled design schema aimed at leveraging prefabrication and

industrialised construction, based on procedural knowledge of manufacturing
and assembly draws architects close enough to the means and methods of
constructions so that they could perform sub-contracting or even construction
management duties. There have been attempts to leverage BIM in similar
ways as current precedent, tightly binding design strategy with construction,
like SHoP Architects’ early provision of digital fabrication data directly to the
exterior enclosure fabricator in their Porter House project in New York.

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160 MACHINE LEARNING

DELIVERY VERTICALISATION STRATEGIES

RELATIONSHIPS INTEGRATING A/E/O

Architect
as Owner /
Operator
O
Architect
as Developer
Architect as
Prefabricator
C

Architect as
Construction
Manager
Architect as
OWNER
intergrated Design/
ARCHITECT Build/Operator
CONTRACTOR

SUPPORTING STRATEGIES – SUPPORTING THE DELIVERY CHAIN

Building operation data

EN
collection (sensors)
Post-occupancy
data for design IPD Support Services
IM
RFP
matchmaking
EC

Branding services Design data

Curation during
Model storage construction
and curation
SP

Computational pre-design

Cross-firm research
Design-Build-Operate
3.5.2 aggregation
Data collection and curation
DELIVERY
RELATIONSHIPS
AND SPANNING STRATEGIES – EXPANDING SCOPE
STRATEGIES OF
ALTERNATIVE
Post-occupancy Sustainable
ARCHITECTURAL
evaluation building
PRACTICE (data loop) optimisation
(FROM YALE
COURSE 2230B/
EXPLORING
NEW VALUE
PROPOSITIONS
OF DESIGN
PRACTICE) AND
A FEW EXAMPLE
BUSINESSES AI-driven
SUGGESTED BY pre-design
services
THE STUDENTS
CLASSIFIED BY
Fiduciary
THIS TYPOLOGY intermediary
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3.5 VALUE PROPOSITIONS AND BUSINESS MODELS 161

A firm making a significant investment in an AI-based decision-making system

EN 3.5.3:
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

IM
SHOP
that supports a specific technical design objective recoups the investment and
ARCHITECTS,
makes a profit by offering the resulting expertise to other firms with similar PORTER HOUSE
challenges, or to clients as a validation service for other designs. An architect with ADDITION,
ELEVATION
EC

deep expertise in a given discipline, say healthcare design, may have made
a significant investment to develop AI-based analysis systems to evaluate or
generate solutions in that building type. A healthcare practice, for example,
might have transferred its deep knowledge of operating theatre layout into
SP

an AI that has been trained (with good and bad examples) from the global
data trust. While their competitive advantage is in deploying the analytical
results into the larger context of an overall solution for a hospital, the AI
platform – which is very ‘knowledgeable’ about operating theatres – could
be made available to other firms doing work (perhaps in another geographic
location where competition is not an issue) or as a service to current hospital
clients to evaluate their existing facilities. This could be a profitable business
in and of itself, as well as a valid business development strategy to create new
opportunities. As mentioned in Chapter 2.4, the current precedent today is
Philadelphia architects Kieran Timberlake, who shares its expertise in energy
assessment through its Tally© carbon assessment tool.

An architect with a long-term relationship with an institutional client – like a

university or retail operator – has designed numerous buildings for them. Mapping
design model data with data streams from building control operations systems,

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162 MACHINE LEARNING

Schematic Design Construction Completed

design development documentation building

Completed
building
with lowest
embodied
Schematic Design Construction environmental
design development documentation impact

Whole-building Design option

EN Optimising Total carbon
IM
analysis comparison assemblies benchmarking
and lessons
learned
Iterative life cycle
assessment
EC

modelling

3.5.4: she has collected a large enough data base of this client’s building base that,
TALLY© combined with data from the trust, has allowed the firm to create an AI-based
SP

CARBON
ASSESSMENT
optimisation tool that can apply to future designs as well as tuning the operation
TOOL of current assets. The resulting contract, extending in blocks of five years
post-occupancy for every building in the portfolio, requires the architect to
manage and evaluate the data streams from projects, evaluate operational
optimisation and make recommendations to the client. In addition to an
annual service contract fee, the architect is also paid a small percentage of the
operational savings in energy, maintenance and staffing resulting from these
services. Today, architects EskewDumezRipple reserve 2% of fees to provide
post-occupancy services to clients, discovering strategies for improving future
projects and building credibility for new projects as well.8
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TRANSFORMING BASIC SERVICES

These short vignettes are meant to stimulate thought about what alternative
value propositions for architects, underpinned by the new capabilities of AI, might
look like in the future. More important, however, are considerations of how, if at

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3.5 VALUE PROPOSITIONS AND BUSINESS MODELS 163

all, the basic services of architects at the core of our value – directly designing the 3.5.5:
UNCERTAINTY
built environment – may evolve when we share the job with intelligent machines.
FACTORS IN
It is naïve to believe that architects can immunise themselves completely from PROJECTS,
the pressures of productivity improvements and knowledge work replacement ACCORDING TO
that these systems will inevitably bring, and further that a profession that has A SURVEY OF
US DELIVERY
operated with essentially the same business model since before the invention of PARTICIPANTS9
electricity can, within a generation, turn to fundamentally new busines strategies.
We are stuck with what we have, but can we fix it?

Facing these realities, which include continued competitive pressure to deliver

our work as a commodity, there are two approaches that can reform, rather
than completely replace, current fee-for-service approaches: reliability and
results. Project uncertainty – the concern that project process will result in
unexpected and unfortunate results – is a significant concern for architects,
clients and builders alike.

A 2014 study in the United States quantified these worries, identifying the top
EN OWNERS
IM
causes for project instability as perceived by these constituents. While there is
ARCHITECTS
general agreement about the list of challenges, there is significant disagreement
about their relative importance, as can be seen from the data in Figure 3.5.5. CONTRACTORS
EC

70%
SP

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
UNFORSEEN DESIGN DESIGN CONTRACTOR-
CONTRACTOR OWNER ACCELERATED CONSTRUCTION
CONDITIONS CONDITIONS OMISSIONS CAUSED PROGRAMME SCHEDULES COORDINATION
DELAYS OR DESIGN ISSUES
CHANGES

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164 MACHINE LEARNING

Of this list, two of the factors are the direct responsibility of the architect
(design errors, omissions) and several more include the significant
involvement of the architect in some way (owner changes, accelerated
schedule and construction coordination). The resulting projects fail to
perform, in some way, as seen in Figure 3.5.6.

The anxieties in Figure 3.5.5 portend failures of results in Figure 3.5.6.

Emerging AI strategies in construction give us a clue where this might be

going. My former colleagues at Autodesk are developing a system that applies
machine learning to construction administration data to identify potential
problems on a job site – either in production or with specific contractors – in
advance. A dashboard is shown in Figure 3.5.7.

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EN
Another provocative start-up, SmartVid.io, makes a tool that uses a combination
of machine learning and computer vision to scan activity on a construction site
and identify potential safety violations, as seen in Figure 3.5.8.
IM
Note that neither of these companies is using AI to replace the work of human
construction coordinators, risk managers or safety leaders, but rather augment
EC

their capabilities and allow them to significantly improve their performance.

There is no reason why such an approach, applied to architectural design
3.5.6: process, could not go right to the heart of client and contractor uncertainty
WHEN in design process, be it checking for properly coordinated construction
SP

PROJECTS
documents, cost prediction, lifecycle modelling of materials for durability/price
MEET
EXPECTATIONS, trade-offs, and even missing information from the documents that comprise the
OR NOT 10 contract for construction.

SCHEDULE Owners

Architects &
Contractors

COST Owners

Architects &
Contractors

QUALITY Owners

Architects &
Contractors

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Always met Frequently met Sometimes met Infrequently met

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3.5 VALUE PROPOSITIONS AND BUSINESS MODELS 165

3.5.7:
PROBLEM
DASHBOARD
FROM BIM
360 IQ

EN
Even generative design, where algorithms generate alternative design solutions,
is not likely to be really useful until the resulting schemes can be sifted by
intelligent evaluative systems driven by AI. Those systems can measure,
mathematically, the performance of the resulting generated schemes, but
IM
choosing, refining and implementing those decisions will remain far beyond
the reach of their capabilities, and human architects will always make the final
determinations of what is best.
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EC

NUMERACY, CREDIBILITY VALUE

Z. Smith, the Director of Sustainability and Performance at EskewDumasRipple,
believes that one key to success is for architects to reach what he calls ‘numeracy’:
SP

‘Illiteracy is about language, innumeracy is about numbers. We don’t like

numbers. It’s not what people thought they were getting into when they went
into architecture. But you have to do it if you want to make a good building.’11
Architects largely measure the success of projects by an intangible sense of ‘good’
and ‘bad’ design, and size up the competition accordingly. As the respective chief
technologists of three of the world’s largest firms said to me once during an early
BIM conversation: ‘We don’t compete with each other with technology. We beat
each other on design.’

The definition of good design must move, at least in part, into the numerative,
performance-based aspects of cost, quality and schedule – not to mention
environmental and social impact – and the proper design and implementation
of AI systems is the key to this change. Numerate and talented designers and
the results they can create will have the dual benefits of increasing the credibility
of architects and firmly anchoring our value in the building supply chain. And
perhaps building an AI-assisted numeracy in setting performance objectives – and
getting paid for them – will achieve the alignment of value and business models
that Latrobe bemoaned almost three centuries ago.

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166 MACHINE LEARNING

3.5.8:
SMARTVID.
IO SAFETY
ANALYSIS

EN
IM
EC
SP

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3.5 VALUE PROPOSITIONS AND BUSINESS MODELS 167

IMPALEMENT
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EN
IM
EC
SP

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>> THE PHILOSOPHER ARTHUR I. MILLER
DEFINES CREATIVITY AS ‘THE PRODUCTION
OF NEW KNOWLEDGE FROM ALREADY EXISTING
KNOWLEDGE AND … ACCOMPLISHED BY PROBLEM
SOLVING’.1 IN THAT SINGLE SENTENCE, HE
CAPTURES THE ESSENCE OF THE CHALLENGE FOR
ARCHITECTS AS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
EN
IM
TECHNOLOGIES MATURE. <<
EC
SP

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169

Our profession is, at its core, a creative enterprise that is valued for our ability
to both define and solve problems in unique, appropriate and beautiful ways.
Using AI should extend, rather than exterminate, that obligation to our clients
and the public at large.

While it may take some time until it reaches the far corners of the design
and construction professions, eventually the pattern analysis, autonomous
processing and data evaluation capabilities of AI/ML will appear in the
architectural landscape. We can declare, a priori, that the technology
represents an existential threat to architects, or we can use our problem-
solving skills and design a strategy that determines their ultimate destiny and
use. And in doing so, we can increase the influence and credibility of architects
with clients, mend decades of broken relationships with our construction
collaborators and maybe even break the chain of our commoditised value
propositions and stunted fee structures.

Any strategy for guiding the development and use of AI systems in

EN
IM
architecture should serve two goals, to improve the quality of the built
environment and to enhance the relevance of the human architects who
are best suited to make those improvements through design. Given that
--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

EC

the development of increasingly capable modes of automation are inevitable, I

propose that the profession embrace five strategies to guide its future:

1. Explicitly guide the definition and creation of technologies that will frame
SP

future practice. Given that the next generation of technology may well define
the future of architectural practice, the profession must establish means to
declare its needs and direction in a way that does not defer to the business
whims of software providers, whose motivations will ultimately prioritise
profits and shareholders.2 Architects have spoken with individual voices as
customers rather than in a united fashion as a collective of important users.
They should organise, collaborating with regulators, clients, designers and
builders, to declare an industry technology strategy that prioritises the most
important data and AI/ML capabilities and then demand the industry provide
them. Contrary to common wisdom, software providers actually prefer such
an approach, which saves them the time and effort of extensive and usually
incomplete requirements research. The national BIM initiative in the UK,
begun in 2010 and now a template for global technology adoption, is an
excellent example of how this can be done at scale.3

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170 MACHINE LEARNING

2. Expand the remit of design to include explicit performance. Building

performance is increasingly a necessary component of competent
design. Starting with life safety at the beginning of the 20th century, and
energy performance at the beginning of the 21st century, the range of
performance parameters that architects must address will continue to
expand. AI systems, driven by data, can empower architects to integrate a
broader set of these parameters into their design processes, connecting the
generation of solutions to performance models of, for example, occupancy,
economics, epidemiological implications, embedded carbon and even
embodied labour.4 These considerations do not supplant the importance
of design in its traditional sense, but rather expand it, while simultaneously
enlarging the effectiveness of building and the credibility of architects.

3.

EN
Create the data infrastructure that can serve as platforms for design.
Today’s designers have created tens of thousands of digital models,
mostly through BIM, of projects that represent an enormous resource
for AI-generated insight. Contractors are doing the same with drone
IM
scans, computer-vision analysis of construction and digital construction
management tools. Building control systems are generating huge lakes
of digital information about systems performance. The potential of these
EC

resources is wholly unrealised without a strategy to organise and access

them, particularly in the industry’s contentious and risk-averse delivery
models. The collaborative organisations described above could guide
software strategy and create policy and platforms for the collection,
SP

organisation, access and use of this data, ostensibly through a global

building data trust managed by a third-party fiduciary and accessible to all.

4. Change the relationship between design, construction and asset

operation. The emergence of BIM as a broadly understood concept
around 2004 coincided with the development of new models of integrated
project delivery, based on the assumption that readily available,
transparent sources of project information would accelerate cooperation
between owners, designers and builders, the lack of which is a well-
known pathology of the building industry.5 More than 15 years later, that
promise remains largely unfulfilled. Digital data created by the various
players may be more transferrable, but it is often incompatible and rarely
shared.6 AI platforms, which could develop, manage and integrate the
data relationships between these various representations and process,
can be a catalyst for allowing architects to cross the traditional boundaries
that separate project definition, design, construction and asset operation

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CONCLUSION 171

and making knowledge reciprocally available across the design intent–

construction execution divide. The tools may make the opportunity, but
practitioners must want to embrace it.

5. Shift the value propositions of design. The commodification of the

architect’s services is a primary inhibitor of innovation and value creation
by the profession.7 Artificial intelligence tools strategically deployed in
the service of performance-enhanced design solutions could be the
catalyst for changing the fundamental business propositions of practice,
converting the value of the architect’s services from deliverables and
fixed fees to outcome-based delivery models and related services. AI/ML
systems could radically accelerate the capability of today’s algorithmically
driven software tools to predict the future state of project performance,

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
EN
generating best value by virtue of simulation. As soon as reliable AI-based
tools – as a result of implementation of the previous four strategies –
become widely available, architects could embrace the largest challenges
of architecture and society, and finally escape the tyranny of commodified
IM
fees, limited resources and public scepticism about the value of the
buildings they design.
EC

The architect Eyal Weizman leads a London-based research team called

Forensic Architecture, which is also the term that he uses to describe his
‘investigative practice’ that ‘regards the common elements of our built
environment – buildings, details, cities and landscapes, as well as their
SP

representations in media and as data – as entry points from which to

interrogate contemporary processes and with which to make claims for
the future’.8 His team uses architectural approach methods supported by
sophisticated data collection and analysis to examine political questions
of government jurisdiction and use of force. The work is not traditional
architecture in that it deconstructs information sources and reassembles
them in ways that might not have been otherwise understood, using digital
tools and analysis. Forensic Architecture’s work – which is understandably
highly controversial, especially to the governments he exposes – is a template
for a strategy for AI in architecture as a whole. The data fragments that
Forensic Architecture assembles for analysis are the basis for speculation
about future states, which is a fundamental responsibility of an architect,
especially those designing the built environment. To be able to make such
claims about how design actions are manifest, as Weizman declares, architects
need a critical stance about the collection, use and deployment of information
about the world.

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172 MACHINE LEARNING

An obsessive reliance on data without such a critical view of its results

could lead to disastrous results, particularly in a field of endeavour such
as architectural design that purports to protect the public welfare. In early
research on neural networks applied to medical treatments at a time when
the internal logic of such systems was legible, ML platforms that yielded life-
and-death decisions – even when such systems were generally reliable – led
hospitals to wholly reject the use of AI. They became suspicious when the
systems reported that asthma patients were less, rather than more, likely
to suffer severe consequences from catching pneumonia, a clearly counter-
intuitive result. Apparently, those patients are referred immediately to critical
care early in the disease, and as such have far better outcomes. The neural
network connected the inputs and the outputs, with no understanding
whatsoever of what happened in between. Systems upon which such

EN

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decisions are made must be both transparent and, in the case of professional
judgement like architecture, validated externally.9

If the necessary data can be collected, and the systems validated, architecture
IM
can expand its remit dramatically. In a recent article addressing the fraught
relationship between architecture and incarceration, Garrett Jacobs and
Deanna Van Buren, leaders of the non-profit design alliance, Designing Justice
EC

+ Designing Spaces, argue that architects must apply their skills to ‘end the
racism that is embedded in the built environment’. To create prototypes for
their ‘Alternatives to Incarceration Plan’ for Los Angeles, they have implemented
a design process deeply dependent on complex, interrelated data sources,
SP

explaining that ‘We are partnering with data visualization, mapping and
research organizations to understand how various systems – such as health
care, first response, pre-arrest diversion, housing, post-incarceration re-entry,
and more – interact at a district scale.’10 In a pre-digital era, even collecting this
data would have been impossible, much less evaluating it or deploying it as the
basis for new design. At this juncture, when empiricist systems are coming to
the fore, but cognition is largely missing, human designers play an irreplaceable
role to direct data and marshal it. Only then will strategies for computation and
design combined accomplish completely new results that humans create to
improve our condition. This is the optimal outcome of the highest and best uses
of artificial intelligence in architecture.

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173

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INTRODUCTION Intelligence, ‘Writing Architecture’, MIT Design, Data: Practice Competency in the
Press, Cambridge, MA, 2017. Era of Computation, Birkhäuser, Basel,
1 For reference, the MacBook Pro 2018, p 23.
laptop I am writing on at this moment 2 See © RMN-Grand Palais / Art
has 16GB of internal memory, or Resource, NY. 14 Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and
62,500 times more as that ill-fated 3 This argument is made in detail in Avi Goldfarb, Prediction Machines:
PDP-11. It also has yet to catch fire. Carpo, The Alphabet and the Algorithm. The Simple Economics of Artificial
Intelligence, Harvard Business Review
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP- 4 Architecte au plan, <https://cdli. Press, Boston, MA, 2018.
11 (accessed 5 July 2021). ox.ac.uk/wiki/doku.php?id=architecte_
au_plan> (accessed 11 April 2021). 15 Spiro et al., op. cit., p 280.
3 David R. Scheer, The Death of
Drawing: Architecture in the Age of 5 Leon Battista Alberti, On the Art 1.2
Simulation, Routledge, London and of Building in Ten Books, MIT Press, 1 This quote from Walter Gropius
New York, 2014. Cambridge, MA, 1988, xxiii. can be found in a superb history and
4 Richard E. Susskind and Daniel 6 Annette Spiro, David Ganzoni and analysis of Nicholas Negroponte’s
Susskind, The Future of the Professions: Mario Carpo, The Working Drawing: early work on architectural
How Technology Will Transform the The Architect’s Tool, Park Books, Zurich, technology: Molly Wright Steenson,
Work of Human Experts, Oxford 2013, p 279. Architectural Intelligence: How Designers
University Press, Oxford, 1st edn, 7 See Nicholas Negroponte, The and Architects Created the Digital
2015, xiv, p 1. Landscape, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA,

EN
Architecture Machine, MIT Press,
5 This particular text was created by a Cambridge, MA, 1970. 2017, p 18.
system called InferKit, which you can 8 One distinct advantage of paper- 2 Ibid., p 170.
try yourself at https://appinferkit.com/ based information exchange is that 3 Noam Chomsky at MIT, Terry
generate (first accessed 21 April 2021). it requires no special software nor Winograd at Stanford University and
6 Personal email exchange with Dr data standards, beyond graphic Roger Schank at Yale University (with
IM
Mark Greaves of Pacific Northåwest convention, to transmit or translate it whom I studied in the late 1970s)
National Laboratory, 27 November between originator and consumer. each put forth competing theories of
2020. 9 The aerospace, automotive and cognition from which various early AI
7 Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew manufacturing design disciplines had efforts developed.
Mcafee, The Second Machine Age: Work, deployed modelling tools decades 4 Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis,
EC

Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of before architects. Similarly, the form- Rebooting AI: Building Artificial
Brilliant Technologies, W.W. Norton & making and rendering tools of movies Intelligence We Can Trust, Pantheon
Company, New York, 1st edn, 2014. and games (such as Autodesk’s Maya) Books, New York, 2019, p 41.
8 Neal Leach has done interesting were appropriated by architects once 5 See ‘AI Winter’, <https://
work on this question, including the they ran on sufficiently affordable en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_winter>
machines.
SP

article about computation, design and (accessed 29 December 2020).

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dreaming: Neil Leach, ‘Design in the 10 See hypar.io (accessed 11 April 6 This technology is known as ‘neural
Age of Artificial Intelligence’, Landsc. 2021). networks’ and operates, in part, on a
Archit. Front., 6/2, 2018, pp 8–19. 11 For example, see McKinsey & form of statistical correlation called
9 Peter G. Rowe, ‘A Priori Knowledge Company, ‘An executive’s guide Bayesian probability.
and Heuristic Reasoning in to AI’, <https://www.mckinsey. 7 Joseph Paul Cohen, Paul Bertin and
Architectural Design’, Journal of com/business-functions/ Vincent Frappier, ‘Chester: A Web
Architectural Education, 36/1, 1982, pp mckinsey-analytics/our-insights/ Delivered Locally Computed Chest
18–23. an-executives-guide-to-ai?cid=other- X-Ray Disease Prediction System’,
10 Daniel Susskind, A World Without eml-alt-mip-mck&hdpid=d36c6b61- ArXiv, abs/1901.11210 (2019).
Work: Technology, Automation and 313b-431c-b3d4-141bc805e7e2&hctk
y=11625380&hlkid=36ab108977a849a 8 See ‘Alphago Zero Cheat Sheet’,
How We Should Respond, Metropolitan <https://medium.com/applied-data-
Books/Henry Holt & Company, New 2ba50687fd2e467de>, 2020 (accessed
20 November 2020). science/alphago-zero-explained-
York, 1st edn, 2020. in-one-diagram-365f5abf67e0>
1.1 12 Steve O’Hear, ‘Spacemaker, AI (accessed 11 April 2021).
software for urban development, is
1 Among the varied histories of acquired by Autodesk for $240M’, 9 A frequently cited example of AI
technology in architecture, those by <https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/17/ is the teaching of ML systems to
Mario Carpo are perhaps the most spacemaker-ai-software-for-urban- recognise pictures of cats. Rather than
prescient, particularly Mario Carpo, development-is-acquired-by- directly program the computer to
The Alphabet and the Algorithm, ‘Writing autodesk-for-240m/>, 2020 (accessed understand what a cat looks like, the
Architecture’, MIT Press, Cambridge, 24 November 2020). systems were trained to study millions
MA, 2011, xi, and Mario Carpo, The of pictures of cats (readily available
13 Phillip G. Bernstein, Architecture, on the internet). Eventually, the
Second Digital Turn: Design Beyond

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computer could learn to recognise an 16 Peter G. Rowe, ‘A Priori 1.3

image of a cat. This process, through Knowledge and Heuristic Reasoning
various technological improvements, in Architectural Design’, Journal of 1 Richard E. Susskind and Daniel
has been extended to other large Architectural Education, 36, no. 1, 1982. Susskind, The Future of the Professions:
data sets, like all the text ever posted How Technology Will Transform the
17 There are several examples of Work of Human Experts, Oxford
online. It is not always successful, the early uses of empiricist systems,
however; see Brad Folkens, University Press, Oxford, 2015, p 22.
primarily in construction. Software
‘Chihuahua or Muffin’, Cloudsight, maker Autodesk has applied 2 See Ivan Illich, Disabling Professions,
2017, <https://blog.cloudsight.ai/ ML techniques to construction Ideas in Progress, M. Boyars, London
chihuahua-or-muffin-1bdf02ec1680> administration data to anticipate and Salem, NH, 1977.
10 See Pedro Domingos, The Master process failures (such as delays or 3 Donald A. Schön, The Reflective
Algorithm: How the Quest for the change orders); BuildTech start-up Practitioner: How Professionals Think in
Ultimate Learning Machine Will Remake Smartvid.io uses computer vision Action, Basic Books, New York, 1983,
Our World, Basic Books, New York, and ML to discover job site safety p 5.
2015. concerns. See <www.smartvid.io> 4 Horst W.J. Rittel and Melvin M.
11 Gary Marcus, ‘The Next (accessed 30 December 2020). Webber, ‘Dilemmas in a General
Decade in AI: Four Steps Towards 18 Cade Metz, ‘One Genius’ Lonely Theory of Planning’, Policy Sciences 4,
Robust Artificial Intelligence’, 2020, Crusade to Teach a Computer no. 2, 1973.
p 51, <https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/ Common Sense’, Wired, 24 March

EN
5 For statistics on the generally
papers/2002/2002.06177.pdf> 2016. dismal state of architectural
(accessed 19 December 2020). 19 Marcus, op. cit., p 3. graduates, see Kermit Baker et
12 For an explanation of a theory 20 Ibid., p 27. al., ‘Compensation Report 2019’,
of computational causality (and American Institute of Architects,
a compelling argument against a 21 Personal conversation with Mark Washington, DC, 2019).
Greaves, 18 December 2020.
IM
statistical view of knowledge), see 6 Of note for this particular
Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie, The 22 See Niall McNulty, ‘Introduction to comparison is the exchange
Book of Why: The New Science of Cause Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy’, <https:// programme that has existed between
and Effect, Basic Books, New York, www.niallmcnulty.com/2019/12/ Yale and the University of Cambridge
2018. introduction-to-blooms-taxonomy/> for many years, where one graduate
EC

13 This is a convention I always use, (accessed 15 December 2020). from each programme receives a
in my writing and in the classroom, 23 After the now infamous Move 37 full scholarship to attend the other
as a way of acknowledging that the when AlphaGo defeated world Go school. Despite the professionally
expectation is traditionally ‘his’. champion Lee Sedol, Demis Hassabis, certified credentials granted by each,
14 See ‘Cyc’, <https://en.wikipedia. the CEO of Google’s AI research the graduates from each reciprocal
org/wiki/Cyc> (accessed 31 December project DeepMind, said: ‘It doesn’t program cannot use their degree to
SP

2020). play like a human and it doesn’t play qualify for licensure in the opposite
like a program. It plays in a third, country.
15 See Stanford Anderson, ‘Problem- almost alien way.’ Cade Metz, ‘In
Solving and Problem-Worrying’, 7 See ‘Master of Architecture I
Two Moves, AlphaGo and Lee Sedol Professional Degree Program’,
Lectures given at the Architectural Redefined the Future’, WIRED (2016).
Association, London, March 1966 <https://www.architecture.yale.edu/
<https://www.wired.com/2016/03/ academics/programs/1-m-arch-i>
and ASCA Cranbrook, 5 June 1966, as two-moves-alphago-lee-sedol-
referenced by Steenson, Architectural (accessed 8 January 2021) for a
redefined-future/> (accessed 11 July detailed list of course requirement for
Intelligence: How Designers and 2021).
Architects Created the Digital Landscape. the M.Arch 1 degree, which qualifies a
An intermediate step between 24 This model mirrors one created successful graduate to sit for the ARE.
problem-solving and problem- by McKinsey Consulting that used 8 National Council of Architectural
worrying, as Anderson defined it, to explain the possibility of AI in Registrations Boards (NCARB),
might be William Peña’s strategy for a business context, where the ‘Architect Registration Examination®
problem-seeking, an approach to classifications are ‘Descriptive/ (Are®) 5.0 Handbook’, Washington,
defining an architectural problem Predictive/Prescriptive’. See McKinsey DC: NCARB, 2020.
before diving headfirst into the design & Company, ‘An Executive’s Guide
to AI’, <https://www.mckinsey. 9 Architects Registration Board (ARB),
process itself. His definitive text on ‘ARB Criteria at Part 3 Prescription
the topic, originally written in 1977, com/business-functions/mckinsey-
analytics/our-insights/an-executives- of Qualifications’, ed. Architects
was updated in 2001; see William Registration Board, 2012.
Peña and Steven Parshall, Problem guide-to-ai> (accessed 18 December
Seeking: An Architectural Programming 2020). 10 For an eloquent exploration of
Primer, Wiley, New York, 2001. 25 Pedro Domingos, op. cit, p xxi. some of these differences in opinion,
see Jeremy Till, Architecture Depends,
26 Marcus, op. cit., p 3. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2009.
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11 Stuart J. Russell, Human Intelligence: How Designers and 2 Ibid., p 94.

Compatible: Artificial Intelligence and Architects Created the Digital Landscape, 3 While the theoretical construct
the Problem of Control, Viking, 2019, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2017. of parametric, 3D modelling had
p 87. 3 As quoted by Daniel Susskind in been around for decades before
12 Ibid., p 20. Daniel Susskind, A World Without Work: the term ‘Building Information
13 See Mario Carpo, The Second Technology, Automation and How We Modelling’ and viable tools for its
Digital Turn: Design Beyond Intelligence, Should Respond, Metropolitan Books/ use became available on or about
‘Writing Architecture’, MIT Press, Henry Holt & Company, New York, 2002, very widespread adoption did
Cambridge, MA, 2017. 2020, p 129. not occur until almost 20 years later.
4 Neil Leach, ‘Do Robots Dream of The American Institute of Architects
14 These images can be generated reported in its 2020 Firm Survey that
at the Allen Institute for AI, <https:// Digital Buildings?’, paper presented at
the 1st International Conference on approximately 80% of US firms were
vision-explorer.allenai.org/text_ BIM capable in 2019, an extremely
to_image_generation> (accessed 8 Computational Design and Robotic
Fabrication (CDRF 2019), Beijing, slow adoption curve for any new
January 2021), as described in Karen technology.
Hao, ‘These weird, unsettling photos China, 2020.
show that AI is getting smarter’, MIT 5 Antoine Picon, ‘What About 4 Daniel Susskind, A World Without
Technology Review, 25 September Humans? Artificial Intelligence Work: Technology, Automation and
2020. in Architecture’, Architectural How We Should Respond, Metropolitan
Books/Henry Holt & Company, New

EN
15 A favourite example is www. Intelligence: Selected Papers from
the 1st International Conference on York, 2020, pp 38–39.
thiscatdoesnotexist.com (accessed
8 January 2021), an AI-driven site Computational Design and Robotic 5 Ibid., p 73.
that creates photorealistic images of Fabrication (CDRF 2019), ed. Philip F. 6 Niall McNulty, ‘Introduction to
cats that it conjures based on vast Yuan et al., p 22. Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy’, <https://
collections of pictures of cat faces, 6 Susskind, op. cit., p 43. www.niallmcnulty.com/2019/12/
IM
a resource infinitely available on 7 Richard E. Susskind and Daniel introduction-to-blooms-taxonomy/>
the internet. The site creates very Susskind, The Future of the Professions: (accessed 7 March 2021).
realistic feline visages but could not How Technology Will Transform the 7 Susskind, op. cit., p 78.
answer even a basic question about Work of Human Experts, Oxford
its subjects. 8 Stuart J. Russell, Human Compatible:
University Press, Oxford, 2015, p 271.
EC

Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of

16 See Phillip G. Bernstein, 8 Andrew Witt, ‘Shadow Plays: Control, Viking, New York, 2019, p 87.
Architecture, Design, Data: Practice Models, Drawings, Cognitions’, LOG:
Competency in the Era of Computation, 9 Royal Institute of British Architects
Model Behavior, 50, 2021. (RIBA), ‘RIBA Plan of Work 2020
Birkhäuser, Basel, 2018.
9 The International Standards Overview’, RIBA, London, 2020.
17 César Pelli, for whom I worked Organization (ISO) has developed 10 American Institute of Architects,
SP

during this time, was particularly data and process workflow standards
adept at this, and seemed to have ‘B101-2017 Standard Form of
for building projects based on Agreement between Owner and
an encyclopaedic memory for Building Information Modelling
materials, plan configurations, and Architect’, American Institute of
(BIM) technologies and data. The Architects, Washington, DC, 2017.
other knowledge of past projects at standard requires creation of a

--``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---
the ready during any design review. Common Data Environment, which is 11 Russell, op. cit., p 86.
While looking at the proposed plan defined at https://www.iso.org/obp/ 1.6
for, say, a new office tower, he would ui/#iso:std:iso:19650:-1:ed-1:v1:en,
ask everyone: ‘Remember the second Section 3.3.15 (accessed 1 February 1 Typical models vary by the role
version of the core that we suggested 2021). of the contractor, the relationship
for the first tower at Canary Wharf? between the designer and the builder,
That would work here.’ Those of 10 This robot is designed to paint the number of contracts between
us who were younger, and far less an interior wall in concert with a various participants and the client,
experienced, found this ability both human painter, see B. Li, I. Chen and the timing of ascertaining the
extremely useful and incredibly and E. Asadi ‘Pictobot: A Cooperative cost of construction. Examples include
daunting. Painting Robot for Interior Finishing of ‘design-bid-build,’ ‘public-private
Industrial Developments’, IEEE Robotics partnership’, and ‘integrated project
1.4 & Automation Magazine, 25 June 2018, delivery’. For a detailed explanation
1 As it was 1979, every single p 85. of such models in the United States,
architect on the floor, save one, was a 1.5 see American Institute of Architects,
white male. The Architect’s Handbook of Professional
1 Richard E. Susskind and Daniel Practice: 15th Edition, Wiley, Hoboken,
2 For a superb history and analysis Susskind, The Future of the Professions:
of Negroponte’s early work on NJ, 2014, Chapter 9.1 ‘Project Delivery
How Technology Will Transform the Methods’, p 508.
architectural technology, see Molly Work of Human Experts, Oxford
Wright Steenson, Architectural University Press, Oxford, 2015, p 1.

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2 Sir John Egan is generally credited ‘Design Assist’, where certain 5 Revenue numbers from AIA Firm
with formulating the basis of this aspects of the project, typically the Surveys of 2006 and 2014, overlaid
concern and laying the groundwork mechanical and electrical systems, with employment data from Kermit
for modern uses of technology and are designed by the engineer of Baker, ‘How Many Architects Does Our
alternative project delivery models, record, but final traditional working Economy Need?’ in ARCHITECT, 2018, 5
at least in the UK. See Sir Roger drawings are omitted and the January 2018.
Egan, ‘Rethinking Construction: The design itself is documented in detail 6 Economic data on the performance
Report of the Construction Task Force’ in shop drawings prepared by of the US architectural industry is
(1998). However, the systematic the subcontractor who is going to exceedingly difficult to collect, as
exploration of these questions may fabricate and install the system. This the best potential source, the AIA,
be seen to have begun much earlier approach acknowledges that the is constrained, as described below,
by the National Joint Consultative actual, useful value of ‘design intent’ from collecting and evaluating it.
Committee of Architects, Quantity construction documents for such As such, this chart was derived
Surveyors and Builders in a study systems is minimal, and therefore from a combination of AIA sources,
prepared by the Tavistock Institute of they can be abandoned. specifically the work of Kermit
Human Relations; see Gurth Higgin, 9 Higgin, Jessop and Tavistock Baker cited in n. 5, plus additional
William Neil Jessop and the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations London, information provided by the AIA
Institute of Human Relations London, op. cit., p 43. by email in May 2021, along with
Communications in the Building profitability data generated by the
10 See McKinsey & Company, ‘The

EN
Industry; the Report of a Pilot Study, Zweig Group consulting company,
Tavistock Publications, London, 2nd Next Normal in Construction: How
Disruption Is Reshaping the World’s which does not have the same
edn, 1965. legal nervousness as AIA. Zweig,
Largest Ecosystem’, 2020.
3 Even when designers and builders however, tracks both architects and
use digital tools, the exchange of 11 Paolo Tombesi, ‘On the Cultural engineers, so the profit data is likely
digital information – mostly drawings Separation of Design Labor’, Building more volatile than if only architects
IM
– is still limited by traditional concerns (in) the Future: Recasting Labor in were considered. Finally, the AIA
about precision and liability, resulting Architecture, eds. Peggy Deamer collects firm data on a very irregular
in enormous inefficiencies as and Phillip G. Bernstein, Princeton basis, so intervening years (indicated
information is recreated along each Architectural Press, New York, 2010. by the hatch marks on the graph)
step in the delivery process: design, 12 Andrew Rabeneck, ‘The Place of are extrapolated from available
EC

fabrication, and construction. That Architecture in the New Economy’, data on revenue (indicated by the
inefficiency is leading to modern Industries of Architecture, eds. Katie solid blue bars). Sources: personal
attempts to integrate and streamline Lloyd Thomas et al, Routledge, correspondence with Kermit Baker,
the process. For example, the list of Abingdon, Oxon, 2016, p 192. 15 May 2021; AIA Firm Surveys ‘The
companies that prefabricate large 13 Ibid., p 192. Business of Architecture’, 2002, 2005,
portions of buildings lengthens 2008, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019;
SP

each fiscal quarter: Bryden Wood, 2.1 Zweig Group, ‘2019 Fee & Billing
Blockable, DIRTT, FabCab, and 1 See ‘Creative Destruction’, <https:// Survey’ in Fee & Billing Surveys, Zweig
Mace, to name a few. The author en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_ Group Consulting, Fayetteville, AR, ed.
is a collaborator on a study of such destruction> (accessed 30 April 2021). Will Swearingen, 2019, p 208.
companies to be published in 2022. 7 I have been engaged in an ongoing
2 Daniel Susskind, A World Without
4 Higgin, Jessop and the Tavistock Work: Technology, Automation and conversation with the Chief Economist
Institute of Human Relations London, How We Should Respond, Metropolitan of the American Institute of Architects,
op. cit., p 77. Books/Henry Holt & Company, New Kermit Baker, about this question. I
5 See ‘Design Intent’ in the Designing York, 2020, p 35. have no doubt that Kermit could easily
Buildings Wiki at <https://www. generate a metric for productivity in
3 At this writing in mid-2021, there the American profession, where he is
designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Design_ are several such companies offering
intent> (accessed 11 April 2021). the primary researcher responsible
early planning analysis studies for decades of bi-annual Business of
6 Higgin, Jessop and Tavistock created by AI-driven generative design Architecture surveys. However, owing
Institute of Human Relations London, processes, including Autodesk’s to two anti-trust sanctions enforced
op. cit., p 40. Spacemaker AI, Sidewalk Lab’s Delve, by the US Justice Department on the
7 For an excellent exploration of this and start-ups Envelope and Plot-Z. AIA, Kermit must stay far from issues
evolution in the United States, see 4 In the US-based office where I was of compensation, relative levels of
George Barnett Johnston, Assembling practising in 1990, a single PC-based effort and their relationship. This
the Architect: The History and Theory computer with monitor and software likely makes creating any productivity
of Professional Practice, Bloomsbury exceeded $25,000 per workstation, measurement system nearly
Visual Arts, London, 2020. more than $50,000 escalated to impossible, and thus these surveys
8 Another variation of delivery 2021. That cost is almost equal to the are silent on this topic.
models current in vogue is called annual salary of the young architect
who operated it.

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REFERENCES

8 The origins of this argument can 7 UK Architects Registration Board, 2.3

be found, in the pre-AI era, in Phillip ‘The Architects Code: Standards of
G. Bernstein, ‘Intention to Artifact’, Professional Conduct and Practice’, 1 Or, in a limited number of US states,
in Digital Workflows in Architecture: 2017, p 14. by a licensed structural engineer.
Design–Assembly–Industry, ed. Scott 8 National Council of Architectural 2 Health and Safety Executive
Marble, Birkhäuser, Basel, 2012. Registration Boards, op. cit., p 6. (HSE), ‘Principal designers: roles and
9 For a provocative exploration of responsibilities’, 2015, <https://www.
9 Remember that you do not actually hse.gov.uk/construction/cdm/2015/
data that enables AI and its ethical own that software, you are merely
and economic implications in the era principal-designers.htm> (accessed 7
licensing its use for your purposes, June 2021).
of big tech, see Kate Crawford, Atlas and those purposes had best conform
of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary to the extensive terms and conditions 3 For a detailed explanation of
Costs of Artificial Intelligence, Yale of the EULA, which you are very American phases of work, see
University Press, New Haven, CT, unlikely to have bothered to read. American Institute of Architects, The
2021. Architect’s Handbook of Professional
10 See ‘Autodesk LICENSE AND Practice: 15th Edition, Wiley, Hoboken,
10 Private conversation between SERVICES AGREEMENT’, <https://
Mark Greaves of the Pacific Northwest NJ, 2014.
download.autodesk.com/us/FY17/
National Laboratory and the author, Suites/LSA/en-us/lsa.html> (accessed 4 It is instructive that there is no
16 April 2021. 6 June 2021). British counterpart to the American
phase of ‘Procurement’, when

EN
11 See Anouk Ruhaak, ‘How Data 11 During my time at Autodesk, the
Trusts Can Protect Privacy’ in MIT contractors compete to be selected
roadmap for a typical annual release for construction of the project. This
Technology Review, 24 February 2021. of Revit was in thirds: one each for implies that design and construction
2.2 design, coding and testing. activities in the US are possibly more
12 Recent assertions by AI-enabled separated, and early contractor
1 Karen Hao, ‘The Coming War on the technology giants such as Facebook involvement less likely. In contrast,
IM
Hidden Algorithms That Trap People and Twitter reinforce this prediction, the lack of clear definition of the
in Poverty’ in MIT Technology Review, as each has asserted that they are architect’s role in translating the
2020, <https://www.technologyreview. mere ‘platforms’ with little or no design into a price in the UK system
com/2020/12/04/1013068/algorithms- responsibility for the consequences suggests little responsibility by
create-a-poverty-trap-lawyers-fight- of their use by customers. See, for designers and far more control, earlier
EC

back/> (accessed 6 June 2021). example, ‘Zuckerberg says Facebook in design, by UK builders.
2 Royal Institute of British Architects, not responsible for US Capitol 5 Leon Battista Alberti, On the Art
‘Standard Professional Services Riots’ at <https://www.ft.com/ of Building in Ten Books, MIT Press,
Contract 2020: Architectural Services’, content/39a699fc-1730-4a5d-b43e- Cambridge, MA, 1988.
RIBA, London, 2020, p 48. 634ebe189d79> (accessed 6 June
2021). 6 This interpretation of Alberti has
SP

3 American Institute of Architects, been put forward by the historian

‘Document B101 - 2017: Standard 13 According to news reports, Mario Carpo, specifically in Mario
Form of Agreement between Owner ‘with the “sole exception” of the Carpo, The Alphabet and the Algorithm,
and Architect’, American Institute of Royal Borough of Kensington and ‘Writing Architecture’, MIT Press,
Architects, Washington, DC, 2017. Chelsea – which accepted that the Cambridge, MA, 2011.
4 Health and Safety Executive of HM refurbishment work should not have
been signed off – all organisations 7 See Antoin Picon’s ‘What About
Government, ‘Are you a principal Humans? Artificial Intelligence in
designer?’, <https://www.hse.gov. had denied responsibility in “carefully
crafted statements”’. See ‘Grenfell Architecture’ in Philip F. Yuan et al.,
uk/construction/areyou/principal- Architectural Intelligence, Selected
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designer.htm> (accessed 6 June 2021). Tower fire: Inquiry told firms “deny
responsibility”’ at <https://www.bbc. Papers from the 1st International
5 National Council of Architectural com/news/uk-51256738> (accessed 6 Conference on Computational
Registration Boards, ‘Legislative June 2021). Design and Robotic Fabrication
Guidelines and Model Law – Model (Cdrf 2019), <https://yale.idm.
Regulations 2016–2017’, NCARB, 14 John J. Parman, ‘Is Architectural oclc.org/login?URL=https://doi.
Washington, DC, 2016. Licensing Necessary?’ in Common Edge, org/10.1007/978-981-15-6568-7>
2020, <https://commonedge.org/ (accessed 6 June 2021).
6 According to both RIBA and AIA is-architectural-licensing-necessary/>
sources, a vast majority of architects (accessed 6 June 2021). 8 See Judea Pearl and Dana
in both countries are using BIM tools Mackenzie, The Book of Why: The
today. See NBS, ‘10th Annual Bim 15 See Daniel Susskind, A World New Science of Cause and Effect, Basic
Report 2020’, NBS, London, 2020, p 9, Without Work: Technology, Automation Books, New York, 2018.
and American Institute of Architects, and How We Should Respond,
Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt & 9 See Judea Pearl, ‘The Limitations of
‘The Business of Architecture 2020’, Opaque Learning Machines’ in John
American Institute of Architects, Company, New York, 2020.
Brockman, Possible Minds: Twenty-Five
Washington, DC, 2020, p 30.

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Ways of Looking at AIi, Penguin Press, / Master of Science in Computer 5 This is the characterisation of such
New York, 2019, p 17. Science or Information Technology. systems by computer scientist Mark
10 Ibid., p 23. 5 Of the 120 credit hours necessary Greaves. Personal correspondence
to achieve the equivalent ‘Part 2’ between the author and Greaves, 7
11 Daniel C. Dennett, ‘What Can We June 2021.
Do’ in Brockman, p 52. professional degree in Yale’s Master
of Architecture/First Professional 6 Those systems use the current
12 Ibid., p 51. Degree, nine are attributed to courses technique called reinforcement

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13 See Grace Farms Foundation, in visualisation, where theoretical or learning, where the system is
‘Design for Freedom’, Grace Farms historical material is connected to programmed to try alternative
Foundation, 2021. <https://www. drawing or digital tools. One summer strategies and instantiate successes
designforfreedom.org/wp-content/ course of three credits is dedicated and reject failures; they are the
uploads/2020/10/DesignforFreedom_ directly to BIM, in connection current rage among AI programmers
FullReport_L.pdf> (accessed 7 June with a building construction and in 2021, as described in Ben Dickson,
2021). documentation requirement. ‘DeepMind Scientists: Reinforcement
14 Dennett in Brockman, p 46. 6 Dennett in John Brockman, Possible Learning Is Enough for General AI’,
Minds: Twenty-Five Ways of Looking at BDTechTalks.com, 2021, <https://
2.4 bdtechtalks.com/2021/06/07/
AI, Penguin Press, New York, 2019,
1 As quoted in Ben Dickson, ‘Why p 46. deepmind-artificial-intelligence-
AI can’t solve unknown problems’, reward-maximization/> (accessed 8

EN
7 Russell in ibid., p 32. June 2021).
BDTechTalks.com (2021), <https://
bdtechtalks.com/2021/03/29/ai- 8 NCARB, ‘2012 Ncarb Practice 7 This is not to say that certain,
algorithms-representations-herbert- Analysis of Architecture’, (National highly constrained building types
roitblat/> (accessed 8 June 2021). Council of Architectural Registration that operate on strict templates and
Boards, 2013). Note that at the time are relatively simple to create – e.g.
2 For two examples of early but of this writing, NCARB was completing a fast-food restaurant or an Apple
IM
unrequited enthusiasm for BIM, see the 2020 Practice Analysis.
Phillip Bernstein and Peggy Deamer, Store – might not be suitable for AI
eds., BIM in Education, Yale University 9 The technical definition can be generation. But most projects are so
School of Architecture, New Haven, found as the UK BIM Standard site- and condition-specific that it is
CT,: 2011; Phillip G. Bernstein and and ISO 19650; see <https://www. difficult to imagine an AI sophisticated
ukbimframework.org/standards- enough to manage competing design
EC

Peggy Deamer, eds. Building (in) the

Future: Recasting Labor in Architecture, guidance/> (accessed 8 June 2021). constraints and trade-offs.
Princeton Architectural Press, New 10 UK, The Infrastructure and 8 See Chapter 2.1, ‘The Digital
York, 2009. Projects Authority, ‘Government Transformation of Design’ in Phillip
3 It is an oversimplification to Construction Strategy 2016–20’, G. Bernstein, Architecture, Design,
attribute this failure to the academy Cabinet Office, London, 2016. Data: Practice Competency in the Era of
SP

alone. The building industry adopts 11 UK BIM Alliance, ‘Information Computation, Birkhäuser, Basel, 2018.
new technologies and processes at Management According to Bs En Iso 9 Cost modelling in the early stages
a glacial pace, and curricula evolve 19650 – Guidance Part 1: Concepts’, of a project are parametric (area
even more slowly, even when there buildingSMART, London, 2019. × cost/unit of area), where later in
may be advocates for exploiting the 3.1 a project estimates are based on
opportunities of new tools on the quantitative take-offs (measurements
faculty (which is also rare). Software 1 Leon Battista Alberti, On the Art of installation × cost of materials and
vendors (like my former employer) of Building in Ten Books, MIT Press, labour). It will be important for any
share some of the responsibility Cambridge, MA, 1988. such system to differentiate these
here as well, having failed to support 2 Mario Carpo, The Alphabet and the approaches based on the resolution
academic engagement with BIM while Algorithm, ‘Writing Architecture’, MIT of the design.
simultaneously dramatically slowing Press, Cambridge, MA, 2011, p 167. 10 Carpo, op. cit., p 21.
the maturation and development of
BIM platforms as they become more 3 Ibid., p 21. 11 These accusations are typically in
profitable to sell. See https://letters- 4 This pursuit of design perfection, the form of architects ‘not knowing
to-autodesk.com/letter-to-autodesk. which is of course not possible (nor how a building goes together,’ or ‘how
pdf, ‘An open letter that reflects legally advisable as a warranty of one would really build that’.
customer perspectives on Autodesk completeness) is the source of much 12 Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and
2020’ (accessed 11 June 2021). unfortunate behaviour first learned Avi Goldfarb, Prediction Machines:
4 See Liverpool’s Building Information in school and then transported to the The Simple Economics of Artificial
Modelling and Digital Transformation office studio. Intelligence, Harvard Business Review
(BIM-DT) MSc or the University of Press, Boston, MA, 2018, p 24.
North Carolina/Charlotte’s Dual
Master of Science in Architecture

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REFERENCES

3.2 9 Kate Crawford, Atlas of AI: Power, Construction Industry’, Architosh,

Politics, and the Planetary Costs of <https://architosh.com/2018/01/
1 See ‘BuildingSMART’, <https:// Artificial Intelligence, Yale University facebooks-vc-backs-new-doxel-ai-
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BuildingSMART> Press, New Haven, CT, 2021, p 12. and-computer-vision-to-disrupt-
(accessed 11 June 2021). construction-industry/> (accessed 16
10 ’Veridical’ meaning ‘truthful,
2 During my time at Autodesk, I veracious, genuine’, <https://www. September 2021).
served in various capacities with merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ 7 See discussions in Chapter 2.4
BuildingSMART, primarily as the veridical> (accessed 11 June 2021). about FRDM.org.
company’s executive representative.
11 This research is described at 8 Niraj Thurairajah and Dan Goucher,
3 As part of the UK Level 2 BIM length in Brian Christian, The Alignment ‘Advantages and Challenges of Using
standard, the government established Problem: Machine Learning and Human BIM: A Cost Consultant’s Perspective’
a data exchange standard through its Values, W.W. Norton & Company, New in 49th Annual Associates Schools of
original data specification PAS 1192-2, York, 2020, pp 45 ff. Construction Conference, California
subsequently superseded by BS EN Polytechnical State University, San
ISO 19650. Within the PAS standard 12 Timnit Gebru, Emily Bender,
Angelina McMillan-Major and Luis Obispo, California, 2013.
the requirement was to generate data
in COBIE (Construction Operations Margaret Mitchell, ‘On the Dangers 9 While these conclusions are now
Building Information Exchange) of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language being substantiated by firms outside
which is, in essence, a spreadsheet- Models Be Too Big? ’ in FaccT ’21, the building industry like McKinsey,

EN
based extraction of non-geometric Virtual, Canada, 2021. many of these concerns were defined
data designed to expose certain 13 Crawford, op. cit., Chapter One by Roger Egan in Sir Roger Egan,
characteristics of the underlying ‘Earth’, pp 23 ff. ‘Rethinking Construction: The Report
design. This is a complicated set of the Construction Task Force’,
3.3 1998. In the US, statistics about
of standards and interactions. A
good place to start to understand 1 This robot was Doxel’s first iteration conformance to budget and schedule
IM
them can be found at https://www. for such a process. In subsequent range from 30% to 60% of projects
designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/BIM_ version, the company developed failing to meet these goals.
level_2 (accessed 12 June 2021). a technology called VSLAM (vision- 10 Nicholas Negroponte, The
4 This move can come none too soon, based simultaneous localisation and Architecture Machine, MIT Press,
as construction is considered one of mapping) that is much less expensive Cambridge, MA, 1970.
EC

the least digitised (and productive) and easier for construction managers 11 ‘Foster + Partners and Boston
industries globally. See McKinsey to deploy. Email correspondence Dynamics monitor construction with
Global Institute, ‘Reinventing between the author and Kevin ‘Spot’ the robot dog’, Design Boom,
Construction: A Route to Higher Ferguson of Doxel, 30 September <https://www.designboom.com/
Productivity’ in https://www.mckinsey. 2021 and https://www.doxel.ai/ architecture/foster-partners-boston-
com/industries/capital-projects-and- post/360-degree-cameras-vslam dynamics-construction-spot-robot-
SP

infrastructure/our-insights/reinventing- (accessed 30 September 2021). dog-11-11-2020/> (accessed 12 June

construction-through-a-productivity- 2 ‘BuildTech’ is the term now 2021).
revolution, ed. McKinsey & Company, generally accepted to refer to 3.4
McKinsey & Company, 2017. emergent digital technology in the
5 https://www.buildingsmart.org/ built asset marketplace. See ‘What 1 Deltek Clarity with Longitude,
about/vision/ (accessed 11 June 2021). does BuildTech mean?’, <https://www. ‘Deltek Clarity Architecture and
archdaily.com/924827/what-does- Engineering Industry Study: Trends
6 Michael P. Gallaher, Alan C. buildtech-mean (accessed 11 June and Benchmarks in Emea and Apac’ in
O’Connor et al., ‘Cost Analysis of 2021). Annual Comprehensive Reports, Deltek,
Inadequate Interoperability in the 2021.
U.S. Capital Facilities Industry’, U.S. 3 ‘AI Powered Project Controls’,
Department of Commerce Technology <https://www.doxel.ai/#press> 2 Architects’ Council of Europe
Administration, 2004. (accessed 12 June 2021). with Mirza & Nacey Research, ‘The
4 Royal Institute of British Architects, Architectural Profession in Europe
7 Niraj Thurairajah and Dan 2020’, 2021.
Goucher, ‘Advantages and Challenges ‘Standard Professional Services
of Using Bim: A Cost Consultant’s Contract 2020: Architectural Services’, 3 Construction Documents is typically
Perspective’, 49th Annual Associates RIBA, London, 2020, p 41. 35% of the basic fee, and Construction
Schools of Construction Conference, 5 American Institute of Architects, Contract Administration another 20%.
California Polytechnical State ‘B101-2017 Standard Form of Some large portion of this effort is
University, San Luis Obispo, California, Agreement between Owner and likely to be automated. The question
2013. Architect’, American Institute of whether that work is replaced with
Architects, Washington, DC, 2017, Sub- something of more value will be
8 George Zarkadakis, ‘“Data Trusts” addressed in Chapter 3.5: Value
Could Be the Key to Better Ai’ in paragraph 3.6.2.1, p 9.
Propositions and Business Models.
Harvard Business Review, 2020, https:// 6 ‘Facebook’s VC Backs new Doxel—
hbr.org/2020/11/data-trusts-could- AI and Computer Vision to Disrupt
be-the-key-to-better-ai (accessed 11
June 2021). --``,`,,``,```,```,,,````,``,,,`-`-`,,`,,`,`,,`---

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4 Daniel Susskind, A World without architectural fees stems from several CONCLUSION
Work: Technology, Automation and lawsuits brought against the former
How We Should Respond, Metropolitan by the US Department of Justice in 1 Arthur I. Miller, The Artist in the
Books/Henry Holt & Company, New the 1980s and 1990s, where standard Machine: The World of AI Powered
York, 2020, pp 37 ff. fee schedules, still available from Creativity, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA,
RIBA guidelines, were deemed to be 2019, p 5.
5 ‘The Architectural Profession in
Europe 2020’. anti-competitive. The AIA has therefore 2 Recently, a collective of UK architects
removed itself entirely from any has expressed strong misgivings about
6 According to the Architects’ Council discussions whatsoever of fees. Autodesk’s lagging development of the
of Europe, 97% of firms in Europe have flagship BIM platform, Revit. See Daniel
10 or fewer staff. 4 Nicolas G. Carr, ‘It Doesn’t Matter’ in
Harvard Business Review, 2003, <https:// Davis, ‘Architects Versus Autodesk’
7 See ‘Construction jobs BOOM: hbr.org/2003/05/it-doesnt-matter> Architect Magazine, 27 August 2020.
Bricklayers and plasterers earn MORE (accessed 11 June 2021). 3 BIM Industry Working Group,
than architects’ at <https://www. ‘Bim Management for Value, Cost &
express.co.uk/news/uk/930079/UK- 5 Many US architects report that,
despite the slow recovery from the Carbon Improvement: A Report for
jobs-construction-salary-bricklayers- the Government Construction Client
electrician-plumbers-career-university> 2007–09 crisis, while fee volume has
returned to pre-crisis levels (at least Group’, UK Government Department of
(accessed 12 June 2021). Business, Innovation and Skills, London
prior to Covid), fee contractions have
8 See ‘Architects who don’t pay yet to return from pre-crisis levels. March 2011.

EN
interns “shouldn’t be given prestigious 4 Issues of forced labour and modern
commissions” says designer who 6 Ibid., p 117.
slavery were explored in a seminar
revealed Ishigami internships’ at 7 For a more detailed explanation taught at Yale in autumn 2020. See
<https://www.dezeen.com/2019/03/25/ of the course and its outputs, see <https://www.architecture.yale.edu/
architects-unpaid-internship- Phil Bernstein, ‘The Distractions of courses/20242-fighting-slavery-in-the-
serpentine-pavilion/> (accessed 12 Disruptions: Technical Supply in an building-supply-chain> (accessed 11
IM
June 2021). Era of Social Demand’ in Architectural July 2021).
9 Peggy Deamer, The Architect as Design (AD), 90, no. 02, 2020.
5 See Phillip G. Bernstein, ‘A Way
Worker: Immaterial Labor, the Creative 8 Lance Hosey, ‘Going Beyond the Forward? Integrated Project Delivery’,
Class, and the Politics of Design, Punchlist: Why Architects Should Harvard Design Magazine, Spring 2010.
Bloomsbury Academic, London and Embrace Post-Occupancy Evaluations’,
EC

New York, 2015. Metropolis, 2019, <https://www. 6 A typical example is the alleged
metropolismag.com/architecture/ uselessness of the architect’s building
10 See ‘“I’m not a robot”: Amazon information models for construction.
workers condemn unsafe, grueling architecture-post-occupancy-
evaluations/> (accessed 15 June 2021). Those data are created to fulfil the
conditions at warehouse’ at architect’s requirement to define
<https://www.theguardian.com/ 9 Harvey M. Bernstein, ‘Managing design intent, and lack the additional
SP

technology/2020/feb/05/amazon- Uncertainty and Expectations in construction logic and detail that

workers-protest-unsafe-grueling- Building Design and Construction’ builders require to complete their work.
conditions-warehouse> (accessed 28 in McGraw Hill Smart Market Reports,
October 2021) ed. Harvey M. Bernstein, McGraw Hill 7 See Phillip G Bernstein. Architecture
Construction Analytics, New York, Design Data: Practice Competency in the
11 Timnit Gebru, Emily Bender, Era of Computation, Birkhäuser, Basel,
Angelina McMillan-Major and 2014, p 12.
2018.
Margaret Mitchell, ‘On the Dangers 10 Ibid., p 29.
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of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language 8 Eyal Weizman, Forensic Architecture:

11 Hosey, op cit. Violence at the Threshold of Detectability,
Models Be Too Big?’ in FacT ’21, Virtual,
Canada, 2021. Zone Books; The MIT Press, Brooklyn,
NY and Cambridge, MA, 2017, p 9.
3.5
9 This issue (and the example cited) is
1 George Barnett Johnston, explored at length in Brian Christian,
Assembling the Architect: The History The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning
and Theory of Professional Practice, and Human Values, 1st edn, W.W.
Bloomsbury Visual Arts, London, 2020, Norton & Company, New York, 2020,
p 117, quoting Frederick Squires and Chapter 3., pp 82 ff.
Rockwell Kent, Architec-Tonics: The 10 Garrett Jacobs and Deanna Van
Tales of Tom Thumtack, Architect, The Buren, ‘Designing to Divest’, Architectural
William T. Comstock Company, New Record, 5 October 2020, p 37.
York, 1914.
2 Ibid., p 119.
3 An important distinction between,
say, AIA and RIBA guidance on

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184

INDEX

Page numbers in bold indicate figures and tables. business models see value propositions
business risk 85, 91
Airbnb 153
Alberti, Leon Battista 4, 95, 117, 118, 120, 121 CAD see computer-aided design (CAD)
algorithmic systems 17–18, 18, 39–40 canonical economic model 73–74, 81, 151
ALM (Autor-Levy-Murnane) hypothesis 46–47, 50, 151, 154 carbon assessment tool 110–111, 112–113, 161, 162
Amara, Roy 33–34 Carpo, Mario 3, 4, 12, 28, 117, 120
American Institute of Architects (AIA) 84, 104, 110, 137 certification/registration 24, 25, 26, 104, 106–110, 108
‘Basic Services’ 49, 50–51, 52–53, 57, 94–95, 94–95 Chaillou, Stanislas 106, 107
analogue technologies 3, 10, 11 code-checking software 40–41, 41
analysis and simulations 8, 9, 10, 36, 37, 77–79, 78 cognitive systems 17–18, 18, 23, 67, 91, 117
Anderson, Lorin 47, 48 collaboration 8, 9–10, 10
Anderson, Stanford 18 see also interoperability of data
Architec-tonics: The Tales of Tom Thumtack, Architect 156, 157 common data environment (CDE) platforms 35, 35, 39
Architects Registration Board (ARB) 24, 25, 26, 85, 104 compensation and value 72–81, 155–162, 160, 171
Architectural Registration Exam (ARE) 24, 25, 26 canonical model 73–74, 81, 151
architecture curricula 23–26, 26 efficiency and effectiveness 74–76, 75, 76
Aristotle 27 productivity 76–79, 78
artificial general intelligence (AGI) 19, 103, 150 value of data 79–81, 80
artificial intelligence/machine learning 7–8, 11, 12, 13–20 computer-aided design (CAD) 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11–12, 11, 36, 74,
capabilities of 19–20, 19, 47–49, 48, 57, 77–79 127, 149–150

EN
cognitive systems 17–18, 18, 23, 67, 91, 117 construction automation 9, 41–42, 43, 120, 145–146
construction automation 9, 41–42, 43, 120, 145–146 construction cost projection 143–145, 143, 146–147
defined 3 construction progress evaluation 55, 137–138, 137, 138, 139,
education and training 105–106, 109–110 146, 147
future AI-based tools 110–111, 112–113, 117–118, 119 construction schedule 145
generative design 7, 9, 12, 106, 107, 122, 123–124, 125, 165 continuing professional development (CPD) 104, 104, 110
IM
history of 14–17, 14, 16 control and coordination information 38, 38
professional knowledge and 27–31, 28, 29, 30, 46–47, 50 cost projections 143–145, 143, 146–147
project delivery and 66–68, 66 counterfactual reasoning 96, 97
responsibility and 82–91, 89, 134 Covid-19 pandemic 36, 99, 100–101, 153
strategies to guide future of 169–171 Crawford, Kate 134, 135
task automation xi, 40–41, 41, 45–57, 52–53, 54–55, 56, 74, creative destruction 73–74, 81
EC

136–147, 142, 143 creativity, defined 168

taxonomy of use 9, 10
technology types 17–18, 18 data 124, 126–135
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see also data; process transformation bias in 134, 135

asset operation information 38, 38 digital building information categories 36–39, 37, 38
association 96, 97 interoperability 127–133, 129, 130, 132
SP

Autodesk 8, 8, 18, 38, 57, 86–88, 127, 132, 164, 165 value of 79–81, 80
automated process tools 35, 35, 39–40, 44 Deamer, Peggy 153
automation deep learning see empiricist/deep learning systems
construction 9, 41–42, 43, 120, 145–146 demand for professionals 92–99, 97, 150–154, 152
task xi, 40–41, 41, 45–57, 52–53, 54–55, 56, 74, 136–147, Dennett, Daniel C. 98, 99
142, 143 design, generative 7, 9, 12, 106, 107, 122, 123–124, 125, 165
autonomous building function 42 design intent 61–64, 62, 63
autonomous process tools 35, 35, 40–42, 41, 43, 44 design labour 148–154
Autor, David 46 design objectives 116–124
design representation 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 36, 37, 121–123
Bayesian networks 96 design task automation 40–41, 41
bias in data 134, 135 Designing Justice + Designing Spaces 172
BIM see building information modelling (BIM) digital building information categories 36–39, 37, 38
Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning 19, 47–48, 48, 49, 57 digital interstice 6, 10, 11
build strategy 145 Domingos, Pedro 19
building information modelling (BIM) 4–5, 6 Doxel 137, 137, 138, 138, 139, 146
automated processes 39–40 drafting room 149, 149
data interoperability 127, 129 duty of care 82–91, 89, 134
demand for professionals and 151–152, 152 DWG file format 127
design labour and 150
design representation 9, 10, 11, 12, 36, 37 economics 72–81
education and training 105–106, 109 canonical model 73–74, 81, 151
efficiencies 74–76, 75, 76, 139 construction cost projection 143–145, 143, 146–147
Level 2 standard 109, 152, 169 efficiency and effectiveness 74–76, 75, 76
project delivery and 62, 67–68 productivity 76–79, 78
responsibility and 85, 86 value of data 79–81, 80
taxonomy of use 9, 10 education and training 23–26, 26, 102–110, 104, 108
BuildingSMART 127, 128 embodied carbon assessment tool 110–111, 112–113, 161, 162

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empiricist/deep learning systems 16, 17–19, 18, 36 Marcus, Gary 17–18, 19, 20
capabilities of 20, 47–49, 48, 57, 77–79 market conditions 144, 146–147
task automation 48–51, 52–53, 54–55, 56–57, 56 MEDLINE index 29
End User License Agreements (EULA) 86–88 Miller, Arthur I. 168
environmental impacts 135 Minsky, Marvin 14
EskewDumezRipple 162, 165 MIT Technology Review 83
ethics 134–135, 153–154 modern slavery assessment tool 110–111, 113
evidence, role in design 118–121 Murnane, Richard 46
expert systems 15–16, 16, 124
explicit knowledge 46, 48–49, 50 National Council of Architectural Registrations Boards (NCARB)
24, 25, 26, 85, 104, 108, 108
failures of execution 88–90, 89 National Institute of Standards and Technology, US 128
flexible specialisation 67–68, 69 National Level 2 BIM Standard, UK 109, 152, 169
forced labour assessment tool 110–111, 113 natural language processing vi, ix–x, 15, 16, 28, 134, 135
Forensic Architecture 171 Negroponte, Nicholas 6, 14, 14, 15, 18, 145
neural networks 14, 15–17, 16, 18, 96, 134
Gebru, Timnit 135, 154 numeracy 165
generative design 7, 9, 12, 106, 107, 122, 123–124, 125, 165
gig economy 152, 153 objectives of design 116–124
Gilman, Michele 83 painting robot 41–42, 43, 145–146
glue code 31 Pearl, Judea 96–98, 97

EN
Google 135, 154 Pelli, César 123
Google Translate ix, 16 perceptive tasks 49, 52–53
GPT-3 technology ix–x, 134, 135 perceptrons 14, 15
Greaves, Mark x, 19–20, 19, 47, 77 Picon, Antoine 34
Grenfell Tower fire 88, 89, 98–99 PictoBot 41–42, 43, 145–146
Gropius, Walter 14 Plan of Work 49, 50–51, 52–53, 57, 61, 94–95, 94–95
IM
Gudea 3, 3 Porter House project, New York 159, 161
Health and Safety Executive (HSE), UK 93, 98, 111 practical reasoning 27
health, safety and welfare 93, 98–99, 100–101, 164, 166–167 precarious workers 153–154
heuristics x, 18, 23 prediction 9, 10, 77–79, 78, 121
Higgin, Gurth 61, 62, 63 procedural task automation 50–51, 52–53, 54–55, 56–57,
EC

human cognition models 15, 17 141–145, 142, 143

process transformation 32–44, 35
image indexing and generation 28, 28 automated process tools 35, 35, 39–40, 44
implicit knowledge 46–47, 50 autonomous process tools 35, 35, 40–42, 41, 43, 44
Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) 127 common data environment (CDE) 35, 35, 39
inferential reasoning 96 digital building information categories 36–39, 37, 38
integrated project delivery (IPD) 60 production task automation 55, 141–145, 142, 143
SP

integrative tasks 49, 52–53 productivity 76–79, 78

International Alliance for Interoperability 127 professional knowledge 21–31
internet of things (IoT) 38 architecture curricula 23–26, 26
interoperability of data 127–133, 129, 130, 132 artificial intelligence and 27–31, 28, 29, 30, 46–47, 50
intervention 96, 97 professional liability 85
professional relationships 64–67, 65, 66, 88–89, 89, 140–141
Jacobs, Garrett 172 professional responsibility 82–91, 89, 134
Jessop, William Neil 61, 62, 63 professionals 22–23, 46
Johnston, George Barnett 156 demand for 92–99, 97, 150–154, 152
Kieran Timberlake 161, 162 duty of care 82–91, 89, 134
knowledge, professional see professional knowledge see also education and training; professional knowledge
Krathwohl, David 47, 48 project definition 94, 94, 95, 98
project delivery 58–69, 59
labour equity 153–154 design intent 61–64, 62, 63
labour of design 148–154 means and methods 67–68, 69
Ladder of Causation 96–98, 97 professional relationships 64–67, 65, 66, 88–89, 89,
Latrobe, Benjamin 156, 165 140–141
Leach, Neil 34 project uncertainty 163–164, 163, 164
Levy, Frank 46 projectivity 95–98, 97
Lexus/Nexus system 29, 29 public policy 84, 90–91, 93–94
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) 6, 7, 9, 30, 37, 118 public-private partnerships (PPP) 60
McCarthy, John 14 quantity surveying 62, 63, 144
machine capabilities 19–20, 19, 47–49, 48, 57, 77–79
machine learning see artificial intelligence/machine learning Rabeneck, Andrew 67–68
MacLeamy Curve 139, 139, 158 realisation 8, 9, 10
MacLeamy, Patrick 139, 140, 141 reality capture information 36, 37
registration/certification 24, 25, 26, 104, 106–110, 108

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186

INDEX / IMAGE CREDITS

relationships, professional 64–67, 65, 66, 88–89, 89, 140–141 IMAGE CREDITS
representation 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 36, 37, 121–123
responsibility, professional 82–91, 89, 134 0.1: Makehaven Inc.
RIBA 84, 104, 110, 137 0.2: Loz Pycock, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Plan of Work 49, 50–51, 52–53, 57, 61, 94–95, 94–95
risks 85, 88–90, 89, 91 1.1.1: René-Gabriel Ojéda. @RMN-Grand Palais / Art
Rittel, Horst x, 23, 77 Resource, NY
robotics 1.1.2, 1.4.9 & 2.1.1: Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects
construction automation 9, 41–42, 43, 120, 145–146 1.1.3, 3.3.1 & 3.3.2: DOXEL Inc.
construction progress evaluation 137, 137, 138, 138, 146, 147
Roitblat, Herbert 103 1.1.4, 1.4.3, 1.4.4, 1.4.5, 1.4.6, 1.4.7, 1.4.10, 1.5.6, 3.1.2 &
Rosenblatt, Frank 14 3.5.7: Autodesk Inc.
Rowe, Peter x, 18 1.2.1: Shunk-Kender © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research
Russell, Stuart 27, 49, 50, 56, 106 Institute, Los Angeles (2014.R.20)
Schank, Roger vi, 96 1.2.2: Joseph Paul Cohen, Paul Bertin, and Vincent Frappier
Schön, Donald 23 2019
Schumpeter, Joseph 73
scopes of services 49–51, 50–51, 52–53, 57, 94–95, 94–95 1.3.3: Westlaw, By permission of Thomson Reuters
scripting 7, 11–12, 41, 43 1.3.4: Building Ventures. 5G_wifi_©uniconlabs;
SHoP Architects 159, 161 AdvancedMaterials_advanced_©Wichai.wi; AI_artificial-
SmartVid.io 164, 166–167
Spacemaker 8, 8, 18, 56, 57
spanning strategies 159, 160
specialisation, flexible 67–68, 69
Squires, Frederick 156
standard services contracts 84, 137
EN
intelligence_©Umeicon; Autonomy_stability_©Eucalyp;
BIM_planning_©justicon; Blockchain_blockchain_©iconnut;
ComputationDesign_computer_©xnimrodx;
ComputerVision_vision_©xnimrodx; DigitalTwins_
simulation_©Wichai.wi; Drone_drone_©Freepik;
ElecCar_electric-car_©Freepik; GIS_address_©Cuputo;
IM
structural engineering software 36, 85–86, 134 IOT_internet-of-things_©photo3idea_studio; Mobile_
supply chain conditions 144 smartphone_©Made by Made Premium; ModularPrefab_
supporting strategies 159, 160
building_©Smashicons; RealityCapture_motion-
Susskind, Daniel viii, xi, 19, 22, 34, 46–47, 48, 50, 73, 74, 140,
capture_©Freepik; Robotics_robotic-arm_©smalllikeart;
151, 154
TeX_lessee_©Eucalyp; VR_vr-glasses_©Pixel perfect; 3D_3d-
EC

Susskind, Richard viii, 22, 46

systems performance information 38, 38 printing_©surang; BMS_system_©Freepik
1.4.1: Florian Schäffer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia
Tally carbon assessment tool 111, 112–113, 161, 162
Commons
task automation xi, 40–41, 41, 45–57, 52–53, 54–55, 56, 74,
136–147, 142, 143 1.4.8: UpCodes
taxonomy of use 8–10, 10 1.4.11: E. Asadi, B. Li and I. Chen
SP

technologies and tools 2–12

education and training 105–106, 109–110 2.3.2: Maayan Harel/Judah Pearl/Dana Mackenzie
evolution of processes and 10–12, 10, 11 2.3.3: Apicella + Bunton Architects
history of 3–8, 3, 5, 7, 8
2.4.2: S. Chaillou
taxonomy of use 8–10, 10
see also artificial intelligence/machine learning; building 2.4.4 & 3.5.4: Kieran Timberlake Architects
information modelling (BIM); computer-aided design 2.4.5: FRDM.co
(CAD)
Tombesi, Paolo 67–68, 69 3.1.3: DPR Construction
3.2.1: Niraj Thurairajah and Dan Goucher
uncertainty, project 163–164, 163, 164
use information 38, 38 3.3.7: Aaron Hargreaves / Foster + Partners
use, taxonomy of 8–10, 10 3.4.1: © Ezra Stoller / Esto
value propositions 34, 73, 155–162, 160, 171 3.4.3: Business Model Toolbox
see also compensation and value
3.5.1: Yale University Library
Van Buren, Deanna 172
veridical bias 134 3.5.3: SHoP Architects
verticalisation strategies 159, 160 3.5.8: SmartVid.io
Weizman, Eyal 171
wicked problems x, 18, 23, 77, 90, 103, 123 All other figures are credited to the author.
Witt, Andrew 36
Yale School of Architecture 24, 26, 99, 100–101, 158–159, 160

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Phil Bernstein is an architect, technologist and The advent of machine MACHINE ARCHITECTURE IN THE AGE OF
Associate Dean and Professor Adjunct at the Yale
School of Architecture, where he has been a member learning-based AI systems LEARNING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
of the faculty since 1988. Prior to his current
full-time role at Yale he was a vice president at
demands that our industry
Autodesk, where he helped develop and execute the does not just share toys,
company strategy that resulted in Building Information
Modelling. Previously in practice, he was a principal but builds a new sandbox
at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. He is the author
of Architecture Design Data: Practice Competency in
in which to play with them.
the Era of Computation and co-author of Building (In)
the Future: Recasting Labor in Architecture and Goat
The profession is changing. A new era is rapidly
Rodeo: Practicing Built Environments. He writes,
approaching when artificial intelligence will augment
lectures and consults extensively on the implications
the work of architects, making the design process faster,
of technology on architectural practice, and is a
better coordinated, more accurate and rooted in data.
Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
The danger, however, is that, without a clear strategy
to direct new technologies, they will encroach on the

EN
difficult and ambiguous work of architects – to the
detriment of the profession and the built environment.

Leading architectural technologist Phil Bernstein provides

IM
that strategy. Divided into three key sections – Process,
Relationships and Results – Machine Learning lays out an
approach for anticipating, understanding and managing

EC
a world in which computers often augment, but may well
supplant, knowledge workers like architects. Armed with
this insight, the profession can take full advantage of
the new technologies to future-proof its business.

SP
Features chapters on:

Professionalism
Tools and technologies
Laws, policy and risk
Delivery, means and methods
Creating, consuming and curating data
Value propositions and business models.

ISBN 97819-1-412-401-3

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