Imagine designing a building where you can test how sunlight moves through its hallways, how sound travels across an office, or how people might flow through its spaces, all before construction begins.
Today, that’s not a fantasy; architects are using AI as a creative tool to augment and expedite their work.
Three years ago, leaders at Gensler started experimenting with AI, a phase known in-house as the “AI sandbox.” The sandbox was a commitment to experimenting with generative artificial intelligence with curiosity and without fear: a chance to learn what works and what doesn’t.
“It was a key moment for us as a firm,” Jordan Goldstein, co-CEO of Gensler, told Business Insider. “We knew we couldn’t wait and be reactive to artificial intelligence — we had to be ahead of the curve.”
While the architecture industry has been slower to embrace AI, experts tell Business Insider that the technology can help designers evaluate more options, communicate ideas more effectively, and accelerate creative possibilities.
For Gensler, integration has been less about replacing humans and more about expanding what the firm can accomplish. “What we’ve found is that AI really helps bring more ideas into the process and enables teams to explore their ideas more effectively,” Goldstein said. “It’s a tool that really frees people to focus on that higher value, creative thinking.”
From AI design to cinematic narratives
Goldstein said that Gensler works on about 3,000 projects a year. Today, AI is used in some capacity on the majority of these projects.
In the sandbox phase, Gensler’s team tested a range of vendor-created generative AI tools, some of which are now integrated within an in-house interface.
For example, AI can enhance the development of design concepts, allowing architects to experiment with how natural light could flood a space or how sound travels through a building. When the team was tasked with designing Under Armor’s new headquarters in Baltimore, Gensler designers used AI to simulate how employees would use the building throughout the day and how occupancy would affect the building’s environmental performance, including ventilation and energy consumption.
In addition, the firm uses RunDiffusion, an online platform that allows users to create AI-generated videos and images. It was introduced to Gensler’s staff about six months ago. Goldstein said that within four days, over 3,000 people were trained to use it.
After some instruction in prompt engineering, Goldstein told Business Insider he was able to use the tool to build a concept “within a matter of minutes.”
Goldstein said that AI has increased the number of ideas Gensler’s designers can explore, helped architects communicate their visions before construction begins, and simulated how buildings will function before they are built. For example, before the firm won a bid for a new mixed-use district around a coming stadium, they used AI to present their vision to the team’s owner. “The biggest breakthrough has really been in storytelling,” Goldstein said. “We realized we could take AI-generated design concepts and turn them into very compelling cinematic narratives.”
Gensler also used AI in its work on Baghdad Sustainable Forests, using it as a tool to envision the future of the largest ecological development in Iraq.
Examining and pushing the possibilities
A 2025 study from the American Institute of Architects found that about 90% of architects surveyed reported concerns about AI inaccuracies, security risks, and distinguishing AI-generated from human-made content.
Jason Vigneri-Beane, a professor of architecture at Pratt Institute, told Business Insider that some architecture students share similar feedback. “I find that for everyone who is excited about it, there are also people who are concerned about losing agency and authorship, as well as energy and water use,” Vigneri-Beane said.
Vigneri-Beane sees promise in using AI for the early stages of a project, which is how he’s primarily used it. “I’m excited about its use for experimental aesthetics,” he added. “It can be useful for examining conceptual possibilities.”
Sabri Gokmen, an assistant professor of architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, also uses AI in various ways. He’s used the technology to analyze large datasets as part of his work preserving cultural heritage, and finds AI useful for day-to-day tasks such as writing grant proposals and reviews. Gokmen also teaches students how to generate images for design tasks with AI.
He said he’s especially excited about a collaborative research project with his university’s computer science department. They are developing an AI model capable of generating geometric shapes, something that commercial LLMs can’t do.
“We are trying to make it in a way that someone like an architect or designer can write prompts or give images, and what they’ll get back is a 3D model,” Gokmen said. His team is currently training their AI on models of towers, including office and residential buildings.
While some firms are using AI for conceptual design and business needs, Gokmen said, “The adoption rate in the industry is still slow at the moment.”
Regardless, Gokmen is still convinced that AI is the future of architecture. “In terms of design, architecture will still rely on human decisions and social contracts,” he said. “But this technology will open up other avenues for growth.”
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