Architects and the Architectural Business in the Age of AI

Architecture, architects and architectural business are three distinct but closely interconnected parts of the built environment: architecture is what gets designed and built, architects are the people who conceptualise it, and architectural business is the commercial framework that enables those ideas to become reality.

Humans can operate across all three through general intelligence. AI, by contrast, remains largely “narrow” or task-specific rather than a true general artificial intelligence capable of performing any intellectual task a human can.

What does that difference mean for architecture and the profession? Where can AI genuinely assist architects? What opportunities does it create for design, delivery and practice, and where do new risks, limitations and responsibilities emerge?

This talk explores the opportunities, challenges and implications of AI across architecture, architects and architectural business, offering practitioners a practical framework for thinking about how the profession may evolve in the age of artificial intelligence.

Professor M. Hank Haeusler

Professor M. Hank Haeusler is Director of the ARC Centre for Next-Gen Architectural Manufacturing and Deputy Director of the UNSW AI Institute. His research spans computational design, AI, media architecture and advanced manufacturing. He has led major projects in 3D-printed construction, authored more than 150 academic publications and secured over A$16 million in research funding.

He has lectured in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia in universities such as ETH Zurich, Bartlett London, TU Delft or University of Hong Kong.

Talk brought to you by the University of NSW AI Institute and the City of Sydney.

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