Rethinking Architecture with AI
Christina Doumpioti completed her PhD thesis at EPFL's Media x Design Laboratory. - 2025 EPFL/Alain Herzog - CC-BY-SA 4.0
The integration of predictive and generative artificial intelligence models into building design could well revolutionize architecture. This is what Christina Doumpioti explored in her PhD thesis at EPFL's Media x Design Laboratory. She summarizes her findings in a column published in three French-speaking dailies.
Architecture is a creative practice – driven by intuition, imagination and the exploration of new ways to experience a space. Today, environmental and societal challenges are creating opportunities for integrating information into design. In my research at EPFL, I’m developing workflows that connect analytical thinking to creative exploration, supporting more informed design decisions.
In many cases, performance considerations are introduced only after a building is completed, reducing their potential impact. For my PhD thesis at EPFL, I explored how predictive and generative AI modelscan make this information available earlier, bringing it into the initial stages of design. The case studies I present go in two different directions: one from environmental data to spatial configuration, and the other from media to performance insights. In the first, characteristics like daylight, airflow and thermal gradients guide spatial forms from the start. In the second, synthetic images are analyzed to uncover material properties, energy use and spatial relationships.
Information serves as a tool for discovery rather than a constraint.
These workflows illustrate how computational methods can enhance creative thinking while maintaining environmental awareness. Here, information serves as a tool for discovery rather than a constraint.
Large language models
Looking ahead, I see potential in the growing capabilities of the large language models used in artificial intelligence. These systems allow for intuitive, conversational interactions with design tools, helping various types of stakeholders (architects, engineers, planners and citizens) to engage directly with the design process.
By moving beyond technical barriers, architects can develop collaborative design interfaces that encourage more inclusive workflows, where human creativity and machine intelligence work together to create spaces at different scales that respond to environmental and social needs.
Dr Christina Doumpioti, architect, EPFL's Media x Design Laboratory.
- This article appeared in August 2025 in three local dailies – La Côte (Vaud Canton), Le Nouvelliste (Valais Canton) and Arcinfo (Neuchâtel Canton) – under a joint initiative between EPFL and ESH Médias to showcase the R&D being carried out at EPFL on advanced construction techniques.