AI is increasingly taking a seat at the design table. Not as a distant promise, but as a tool that analyses, optimises and generates. The question that springs to mind is: what is left for the architect when a machine designs faster and more consistently? And just as relevant: what is lost when we reduce architecture to a calculation or a ‘best choice’ derived from data?
The evening takes its starting point from the essay The Artificial Architect by our colleague Paulus Present, published by NAV and Knack. It identifies a fundamental tension: architecture as a process of optimisation versus architecture as a cultural and social practice.
Paulus has invited three speakers, each of whom will approach the theme from their own perspective in research and practice:
This will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Peggy Totté, with time for questions from the audience.
The focus of the evening goes beyond tools or efficiency. It is about authorship, responsibility and professional ethics. About the question of whether architecture can be captured in models and patterns, or whether it actually defies that logic.
And ultimately: what does society expect of an architect in an era where design is increasingly being outsourced to machines?
This discussion evening is aimed at students, practising architects and academic staff. For students, the evening forms part of the course Professional Practice: Ethics for Architectural Engineers taught by our colleague Jan Moens.
We are organising this event in collaboration with Ghent University, the student association De Loeiende Koe and NAV.
Do you have a pressing question? You can leave it via the same link.
