Artificial intelligence is making the work of architects and engineers much more efficient, but it means a compulsion for training, post-graduation development, and from design offices to collect data and use it appropriately for future projects. AI is already being used for design that considers a wide range of sustainability options. – In order to use AI effectively, new skills, aggregating data, testing technological solutions and effectively implementing them in teams are becoming crucial, argues Marcin Kosieniak of design office PM Projekt.
Technological solutions using artificial intelligence for design and computational work in architectural projects are multiplying on the market. At the moment, the most common tasks that involve the use of artificial intelligence tools (such as Chat GPT) focus on automating processes and speeding them up significantly.
Artificial intelligence supports ESG
“Artificial intelligence is a huge area for such use, enabling architects and engineers to design different options more efficiently and then implement changes more effectively. From an engineering perspective, programming tools can offer us significant time savings and reduce the possibility of calculation errors,” points out Marcin Kosieniak of design office PM Projekt.
As Kosieniak points out, the use of multiple options in design or computational models is starting to support the search for sustainability solutions to a much greater extent.
Globally, generative design is becoming increasingly popular. Already today, design offices using AI in the design process are generating multiple design options from which, together with developers, they select the most optimal solutions, and the whole process is being shortened from the weeks or even months to seconds that AI needs to generate the relevant models.
“We are seeing large software development corporations doing everything to make design happen in the cloud. The programmes themselves are available in cloud models to enable a rapid design process, which in a short while will involve paying appropriate fees to access the software. Autodesk has introduced what it calls ‘generative design’, where algorithms are able to generate a dozen possible drawing concepts based on the input given by the user. This is a process that generates a series of drawings for the user to choose from in a few minutes. This makes it possible to do in a few minutes the work that a designer would take a week or more to complete. Other concepts of using AI for the design process are also emerging. Software houses are introducing plug-ins into design software so that designs are continuously reviewed against legal requirements. Thanks to the algorithms, the designer is informed in real time that a particular solution is not possible due to incompatibility with fire regulations or construction law. This software is not yet available in Poland, but it is only a matter of time. As far as the design of installations is concerned, programmes by companies such as Augmenta are in the testing phase, which are able to draw the entire installation in a given area of a building practically from scratch,” explains Marcin Kosieniak.
Data collection in design offices
As co-owner of the design office PM Projekt, Kosieniak not only keeps abreast of technological solutions, tests the use of artificial intelligence tools, implements them in design work, and is also working on his own web application for use in structural calculations of architectural projects.
“Already today, by aggregating the relevant data, we are able to determine in our office exactly how long we are going to work on a project, how many people we need for it, the use of materials, working hours and so on. We are therefore making the design process itself more sustainable. Artificial intelligence is also great to use in estimating costs and tracking the use of the project budget. With the right data, we can predict the amount of materials and automatically add various elements to the building information model (BIM). This, of course, requires design offices to have the right data, and this in turn requires time to collect it. That is why we started this work several years ago and today we have data from several hundred projects, which allows us to use it effectively for each subsequent project,” Kosieniak argues.
‘Artificial intelligence,’ he stresses, ‘helps the work, speeds up processes, but it is still the architect or engineer who has the key responsibility for the project. Competitiveness in the industry will therefore be linked, Kosieniak predicts, to transparent design that takes advantage of the opportunities offered by AI, is properly aligned with budgets and ESG-supporting solutions, and complies with quite rapidly changing legislation.
New professions, training after graduation
Kosieniak predicts on this occasion that there will be a demand for new professions in the short term.
“I don’t see AI as a threat to the industry, rather I see huge opportunities for use as a work assistant. Artificial intelligence is expanding the possibilities of how we work, offering us unprecedented uses. Just realise how much machine learning increases productivity, meaning that we can eliminate the possibility of miscalculations with every project and generate better and more optimal solution options. We will therefore need more and more people with the ability to analyse data, to collect it properly. It will be important not just to input the data, but to set it in context, understanding the whole design process. I predict that soon there will be a demand for new professions, such as in IT, where the profession of Prompter is emerging, whose task is to ask questions in such a way and prepare them to be understood by artificial intelligence in order to obtain the right code to be used by a programmer,” points out Marcin Kosieniak from the PM Projekt project office.
This also means much bigger and more important systemic changes, also concerning higher education.
“Today, architects and engineers are still learning in the pre-AI system, so a key part of their practical learning takes place during their first years in a design office or even during their apprenticeship. Learning, moreover, does not end with a master’s degree. If someone really wants to progress in this profession, they need to think quickly about postgraduate studies, the development of skills regarding the use of algorithms. Design offices that care about employee development support employees in this. In our design office, we offer subsidies for postgraduate studies, which is a big help, and we also regularly do training within the team. We see how this translates into work,” enumerates Marcin Kosieniak from the PM Projekt design office.
Marcin Kosieniak – sanitary installation designer, forensic expert specialising in project management in Poland and abroad, including the use of innovative design solutions. Co-owner of the PM Projekt design office in Bydgoszcz. As an expert witness he provides opinions in the field of sanitary installations.
