Spatial Interpretation in a Text-to-image Accelerated Architectural Design Process

The introduction of diffusion models – artificial intelligence models originally used as text-to-image generators – poses several questions for the architectural design process. Firstly, could diffusion models enhance those design processes? Secondly, what is the relationship between innovative image generators and traditional methods of representation derived from projectional geometry? This paper studies the results of such an accelerated design process by 76 masters students of architecture, which lasted 6 weeks and covered the sketch, preliminary and final design stages. We define spatial interpretation moments as the inflection points the during human-machine interaction when the designer translates 2D images into 3D spatial design concepts. The spatial interpretation moments mostly occur in the transition from sketch to preliminary design and during preliminary design. Spatial interpretation moments’ inherent opportunity is to use diffusion models both as a communication and a design tool to rapidly test spatial design intentions. This paper showcases examples of the captured spatial interpretation moments regarding the designer’s ability to actively design and the impact of spatial dimensions, spatial composition and spatial abstraction. Moreover, this paper suggests the use of annotations to capture spatial interpretation moments for future research and proposes boundaries to investigate the relationship between diffusion models and other methods of representation.