AI within Critical Spatial Practice

Since the emergence of openly available high quality AI image generation I have run an annual workshop investigating its place within critical spatial practice each Autumn for the Architectural & Urban Design MA, in collaboration with the University of Universities (UoU). Initially set up in lockdown due to the suspension of Erasmus exchange programmes, the UoU enables postgraduate architecture students from different nations to collaborate within workshops via online platforms. This wider engagement also offers an international perspective on the latest iterations of AI image generation tools.

The workshops are positioned within an understanding of spatial design as a form of ontological design, where our world view is expressed through design. Lefebvre referred to architecture as a “space of representations” (Shields, 2013), it communicates what Fry and Willis term our “worlding” (Willis, 2006). Seen in this light the critical position is fundamental to a design process that has the capacity build alternative futures. This might seem an unlikely pairing with AI, but that is precisely why the engagement is needed.

Each workshop addresses the latest freely available AI image and video generation tools. The participatory format of the workshop positions us all as equal co-researchers investigating potential approaches to the application of these new tools within a critical design process. AI pushes to the foundations of what design is, and what role we play within it. The presentation will share the sometimes surprising insights gained, methods evolved and approaches to the use of AI uncovered that support critical thinking within the design process over the past five years.