News

Source: https://www.tuwien.at/en/studies/teaching-at-tu-wien/news/news/kann-man-mit-kuenstlicher-intelligenz-traumhaeuser-entwerfen Parent: https://www.tuwien.at/en/studies/teaching-at-tu-wien

March 2026

Can you let Artificial Intelligence design your dream home?

Will architects be needed in the future or will AI replace them?

When thinking about AI, people think about the production of texts, pictures and videos. But could AI help building your dream home? In January 2026 the symposium “Future of Creative Industries and IP in the Age of AI” took place at TU Wien and welcomed experts from the fields of architecture, literature, art and law. In keynotes and discussions, these experts worked on questions such as “How can architects work well with AI?” and “How much is the role of architects going to change in the age of AI?”

“AI in architecture is quite a niche”, says Mariya Korolova, an architectural PhD student and University Assistant in the research unit of Real Estate Development and Project Management at TU Wien. “A lot of architects are afraid that soon everybody will be able to design their own dream houses by simply prompting on AI. But in my experience, we are a long way away from that.”

According to Mariya Korolova designing a house is a co-creative process of three or sometimes more main players. The architect knows about the space as well as about the static and takes facts as electricity and plumbing into consideration when creating a house. The user on the other hand has his needs and demands for the place in mind, while the owner knows best what the economic trends are and what is currently needed in the particular area where the house is going to be built. “So, the question is, will AI just be another team-player in this co-creative process or will it replace one or more players?”, Mariya Korolova explains. Fact is that AI is still in the beginning in architecture. Although it has many advantages, “AI lacks spatial understanding like static, how to best connect rooms or if it makes sense to put the bathroom next to the kitchen or the bedroom. Once when prompting, AI suggested to build a room right on top of an open-floor plan. AI is basically missing spatial logic and systemic thinking”, is how Mariya Korolova puts it.

Using AI successfully is basically a question of how and where to integrate it into a process. Mariya Korolova is sure that “AI helps in many other ways such as the automation of tasks for example in drawing up contracts, building a timeline or other project management tasks. It can also be helpful in legal matters.” Using AI in the above-mentioned way could help save time and money. However, knowledge in AI is important to know where AI can be of help instead of blindly trying it.

Furthermore, it is of great importance to learn how one can protect one’s intellectual property from stealing. In art and creative industries intellectual property is essential and so is the question of how to protect your own ideas from stealing by others as well as how to state that an idea is your own. Similar to watermarks in pictures or videos that are shared online, architects could use watermarks to protect their ideas that have been created with AI. As much as technical solutions are developing for it and have been presented at the Symposium, legal regulation is important too. There is currently no clear way of addressing those issues, as the law is dealing on the interception of disciplines as well as with the new actor, AI, that develops and changes much faster then legislation system. And most of the cases are decided case by case. From another perspective, the speed of the new creations is also accelerating, where some of the architects see a way to be ahead of any ‘copying’.

Shajay Bhooshan, associate at Zaha Hadid Architects and founder of ZHA CODE, who was also present at the symposium explained that at ZHA CODE they created within a few days their own AI tools for their specific way to design with the help of AI. He made very clear, that according to his experience it is easier for small agile offices and workgroups to develop and implement AI tools in design and management processes.

Bernhard Sommer, the President of the Regional Chamber for Chartered Engineering Consultants in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland, explained in the context of the symposium that it is very important to educate architects in AI as well as other occupational groups. Mariya Korolova elaborates “Let’s assume that there is a court case involving a violation in an AI creation and the judge handling the case has little idea about AI in copywrite. How are they supposed to make a well-founded decision, that later would become a ground for the future cases?”

There is still a long way to go, as Mariya Korolova put it earlier. New technological developments always have advantages as well as disadvantages, however, the “people attending the symposium were quite positive and open towards AI and the general development in this field. Only some were biased about this technology, a few others only focused on possible disadvantages.” How could a possible future for AI in architecture be like? Mariya Korolova has a rather positive way of looking into the future: “I am part of a study group that focuses on a general approach on AI in architecture and will hopefully at some point roll out guidelines for working with AI in architecture in Vienna and maybe even in all of Austria.”

Want to help shape the AI future for architects? Be part of the newly founded quarterly round table that will regularly invite different experts such as architects, technicians, lawyers or artists and build a kind of consortium. Anyone who wants can take part in this round table. For more information contact Mariya Korolova (mariya.korolova@tuwien.ac.at). \