‘It’s already way beyond what humans can do’: will AI wipe out architects?::It’s revolutionising building – but could AI kill off an entire profession? Perhaps not, finds our writer, as he enters a world where Corbusier-style marvels and 500-room hotels are just a click away
Can we hurry and spin up these AIs to make these cookie cutter neighborhoods not just look like the absolute worst? Can we get some house variety going on?
I know it’s to drive down costs to build, but it seems like every new neighborhood that’s being built looks absolutely soulless and dreadful to live in.
As you said, it’s based on building costs. No reason for AI to change this whatsoever
You could maybe use AI to design a bunch of variations on one design with the same or less building cost.
That wouldn’t work because it’s the variation itself that leads to increased cost. It’s just easier and cheaper to build the same thing over and over. You can have superficial changes like having some houses flipped but AI can’t really help there.
I did a lot of that work when I was starting out. Trust me, not a fan anymore than you are. But the developers that buy up all the land and do the construction are, which I hate but understand. What I didn’t understand is that, your average SFDH buyer loves that shit. There were times I was cranking out tweaked designs for 15-20 builds a week across 3-5 neighborhoods. People would come to our company specifically because of that “cookie cutter” design. They loved it and loved paying for it with just a couple tweaks. They knew that there were just tweaked versions of maybe 3 house styles in the entire neighborhood and they loved the suburb feel. Me personally? I’ve always hated the suburb vibe since I was a kid but that’s what paid the bills until I could go back to school and get something I cared about off the ground
That’s wild. I just can’t imagine thinking only a few designs — that lets be honest still look really similar — is…good. It may be cheaper, but all those neighborhoods are so ugly.
And that’s not to even mention all the trees they pull up to put down the houses, so it’s just these cookie cutter homes with no old, tall trees in sight. Just awful.
There are usually restrictions about what kind of house you’re allowed to build on which neighbourhood. It’s not so much about the money or unability to design cool buidings. You can’t get a permit for a house that’s completely different from all the others.
And that’s ridiculous in and of itself.