Worried about the rise of AI? You are not alone. Many designers fear losing their jobs. But what if you flipped the script and saw AI as a valuable ally instead of a threat? That is exactly what these forward-thinking designers and architects are doing.
In architecture, Matthias Hollwich is pushing the limits of AI integration. The founding principal of HWKN uses ChatGPT, Midjourney, Forma and many other AI tools to optimize designs, develop concepts rapidly and create more sustainable, engaging buildings. Tasks that once took years, such as analysing 5,000 plots in Frankfurt, are now completed within days. Hollwich also employs AI for reverse engineering, deconstructing 2D images of buildings and reconstructing them in 3D. One of his latest projects is a condo building in Miami, inspired by a deconstruction of New York’s iconic Empire State and Chrysler Buildings.
‘At HWKN, we use AI not as a tool for efficiency but as a partner in imagination. We push beyond the boundaries of conventional logic to create buildings that could not have been conceived by human reasoning alone – structures that surprise, provoke and inspire. People are not drawn to the purely efficient. No one travels across the world to admire the most rationally designed office block. Instead, we remember – and seek out – the unusual, the historic, the places with soul. These are the spaces that tell stories, that feel alive, that defy expectation,’ Hollwich states.
