As AI emerges, Lawrence Technological University’s (LTU) architecture and design students explore new ways of bringing ideas into being.
LTU’s College of Architecture and Design (CoAD) welcomed the month of September, Detroit’s Month of Design, with an exploration of its own. Collaborating with the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), CoAD students, alumni, faculty, and industry professionals explored Detroit’s industrial legacy through AI workshops at the DIA, producing speculative works that reinterpret historical and contemporary design using emerging technologies. These AI-generated pieces served as the catalyst for a panel discussion on September 25 on the role of artificial intelligence in architecture and design education.
Integrating AI into Design
Titled “Designing with Intelligence: An AI Collection of Speculative Objects,” architecture and design experts debated how AI can be integrated into design practices, its impact on art and design, and how LTU is preparing the next generation of designers and architects to use these tools effectively. This event highlighted how AI is shaping the future of design, fostering innovation, and bridging the city’s industrial past with its digital future.
Distinguished designers and architects Jason Vigneri-Beane, professor, Pratt School of Architecture; Humbi Song, assistant professor and Emerging Architect Fellow, University of Toronto; Shelley Selim, Mort Harris Curator of Automotive, Industrial, and Decorative Design, the Detroit Institute of Arts; and Curry J. Hackett, teaching associate in Urban Planning and Design, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, presented their unique perspectives. LTU Interim Provost and former Dean of CoAD Karl Daubmann and Assistant Professor of Architecture Sara Codarin, PhD, moderated the discussion and put several thought-provoking questions to the panel.
Educators and The Implications of AI
In an interview, Song was especially introspective as she said, “A lot of the machine learning techniques are becoming very popular and commercially very easy to use. They’re really changing the way that design educators and students are engaging in the process of design. In many good and bad ways.
It’s very important for us as educators and researchers to wrestle with some of the implications of AI today and in five or 10 years. There might be a less direct, more discursive, more exploratory way of engaging with AI. We must keep in mind, though, that term of AI is essentially a statistical averaging. It can very easily produce generic, not very interesting imagery. So, there’s a need for education, critical thinking about why and how we are using this.”
Excited about the reach of the discussion and engagement of the audience, Codarin said, “I was at an event in Boston immediately following the panel and there were people there already talking about it!”
Diverse Perspectives on AI in Design
CoAD believes that the conversation around integrating AI in education is both timely and essential, and diverse perspectives are particularly important within architecture and design given the breadth of these fields.
CoAD Interim Dean Lilian Crum said, “We’re grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to critically engaging with AI-supported design and bring experts into the conversation around these quickly evolving tools that our students and faculty are embracing. Our partnership with the Detroit Institute of Arts and Design Core has been a boon to our design community and reinforces UNESCO’s decision to name Detroit its only U.S. “City of Design.”
By: Renée Ahee
