I interviewed an architect who works at Zephyr Architects, which does main residential work. He went to the University of Michigan where the school focused on integrating digital fabrication and computers in the the architectural program. He is interested in historical restoration and has experience working on those types of projects.

SUMMARY

The individual has a passion for historical interests, especially music from the 14th to 17th centuries, and is part of a Renaissance choir. He is interested in creating atmospheric settings for events, emphasizing cultural and artistic aspects in the design process. In his free time, the interviewee enjoys diverse activities like karaoke, biking, and spending time with family. He defines design as curating choices and solving functional puzzles, valuing image-generative AI for efficient prototyping. Ownership of ideas lies with the input provider, using AI as a tool to bring concepts to life. Outside academia, model building serves as a powerful representation for conveying the look of unbuilt buildings. The interviewee sees the human experience as constant learning and knowledge creation about the surroundings, envisioning AI's potential to elevate creativity and innovation. If not in design, the interviewee would choose to be a baker, finding satisfaction in the hands-on process of creating baked goods and sharing them.

What are you passionate about?

I'm passionate about a lot of random historical things. I'm in a Renaissance choir, so I sing a bunch of music from the 14 to 1600s in Latin with these really elaborate harmonies and just getting completely immersed in atmospheres.

Like, that was my favorite part of architecture, designing to create a feel to a space. So I like music from old times. It has a really intense atmosphere. I like creating really fun settings for Halloween or for events and parties and stuff. I don't know. I guess that's what I'm passionate about.

If you can save time in the design process, how would you reallocate that time?

I think I would reallocate that time for figuring out what we want the buildings to really express, so I feel like for a lot of things now it is a very pragmatic process.

It's like we have to fit it in these types of apartment units or this much space of a certain type. So the building just picks up a shape based on that. And we don't really look at the proportions or the ornaments or the context, or just what we're really doing culturally and artistically.

I feel like we don't really have enough time to do that if we want to be productive. 

And then how would you spend that time if it wasn't involved in the project or work?

All sorts of ways.

I'd like to do karaoke with friends or take long bike rides or hang out with family. There are infinite ways to spend free time.

How do you define design?

I think the design is. The curation of choices and the finding solutions to puzzles of the function of an issue. 

How do you define a designer?

I think a designer is somebody who is adept at figuring out which of those puzzles are important. And prioritizing the solutions for those in the final product. 

What are your thoughts on image-generative A.I. being able to produce beautiful images in a short amount of time?

I think it's amazing. I think it's a great time saver. It gives us so much more flexibility to focus on actually trying to achieve what we want.

I think the point of creating art is to create the art. You can enjoy the process. But if you're looking to create something that has a certain effect or works for a certain economic niche if you can do that more quickly, then it's to everyone's benefit.

Would you use AI as a tool in the future?

We already sort of have begun doing so, like throwing rough images we have into the AI and seeing what it throws out and tweaking those and using those as inspiration. It's a really good way to juggle ideas rather than having to like to take half a day to like to go through a whole concept like this is what, a potential option could be.

You can throw some words into the AI and have it throw out an unrealistic and not very put-together idea, but it's still the idea. It gets across the concept, the general massing, our colors, and things of that sort. So it's a very fast prototyping method. I feel like as architects, our role is increasingly becoming how to make that rational work rather than necessarily coming up with those ideas on our own to begin with.

Who owns the idea if it's between AI or you as the prompt giver, and is there a line to be drawn of who has ownership, depending on how much input is put in?

My point of view would be that the person who is putting in inputs has the ownership.

I thought that was how the agreement to the intent was originally structured. The AI can create anything, but it's not creating anything. It's creating what it's asked to. AI could create anything, but it's only creating the things that we tell it to. So like, the people who are sending the prompts are the originators of these specific incarnations of things.

And I think they are the people who should be credited with like creation of them. It's like, if if we can think of the AI as just a tool, like we are the ones using that tool to create these things. 

What is the purpose of model building outside of academia? 

It's really beautiful, and it helps. A lot of condo buildings really like having a model of the building just sitting in their lobby so people can get an understanding of what it's going to look like before they move in. I'm sure that could increasingly move to digital, but as long as there are physical rental offices or physical places people go to hear about something new that's happening, like, a model is still a very powerful representation of an unbuilt building.

How would you define the human experience? 

Human experience is just learning over time. It's an engagement with the world and your thoughts on the world and the constant dialogue there.

Our internal monologue is always churning and trying to make sense of everything we're engaging with. And I guess the human experience is the creation and curation of a body -- of knowledge about the world around us and how to more effectively interact with it.

Would you say that using AI as a tool -- having that freedom to create, to explore, to innovate -- would elevate the human experience?

Yeah, I think definitely. It allows us to focus more on what could be and what we want rather than the process of getting there.

What would you do if you were not in the architectural/design field? 

I would probably be a baker.  It's fun. It's a great way of just playing with your favorite flavors. And so I've been making like tons of cakes and cookies and stuff recently and giving them to neighbors and friends and it's a good way of making people smile. It's a really satisfying thing to do. It makes the house smell amazing.

It's a handicraft and I'm thinking of a Jetson scenario where like if you could push a button it would just create whatever baked goods you want. I don't think that would be as cool as if somebody had made you a cake. 

Eventually. I could see a scenario where you could tweak elements. You can say, 'Oh, add vanilla extract or change this amount.' You could personalize the recipe. So it's still when you press the button, it's something only you would create that no other people would know to make those slight changes.

And so I guess for people who are just making these things to eat them and have them, it could be the same as AI with architecture. You don't need the process to be by hand to purchase to be valuable. But I think as it is something I enjoy doing, I want to still engage with the process.