Q&A: Keeping up with design visualization—deploying new technology like AI in architecture
May 06, 2025
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Interview: Design computing, AI in architecture, and virtual building design help fill the visualization gap and meet the needs of building owners
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A version of this blog first appeared as “Ask an expert: Deploying new technology in design practice” in Design Quarterly, Issue 23.
Design technology never sleeps. For a good design firm, the challenge is about which technologies to invest in—but also how, what, where, and when to use them. For instance, consider AI in architecture.
Enter the design computing discipline leader, a new role for our team, who oversees technology integration to enhance project design. As our leader for design computing, Brendan Mullins sets the vision and strategy for graphics excellence, advanced design visualization, computational design, and AI technology across the practice.
Part of his responsibility is keeping an eye on technologies that enhance project design and documentation. He also promotes the wise use of new digital tools in design studios through training, process, and professional development.
Based in San Francisco, California, Brendan is an architect and technologist with more than 10 years of experience. He has worked on complex projects including the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center, and the San Ysidro Land Port of Entry.
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An example of the power of AI in architecture. Brendan Mullins’ team used AI to take the sketch (left) and transform it into a rendering (right).
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Brendan sat down with John Dugan, editor of the Stantec Design Quarterly, to talk about the new discipline leader role. He also talks about using AI in architecture and how technology is changing the practice of design and expectations for deliverables.
In your new role, you walk and talk computational design, parametric design, generative design, and artificial intelligence tools. How did you get into this?
Brendan: I’m an architect, and my heart is in the practice. I’ve always loved using technology in the design process and finding ways that it can bring teams together. A client, a contractor, and an architect standing around floor plans will each have a different mental image of what it represents in three-dimensional space. My passion for design visualization, technology, and the design procession comes from that. How do we communicate faster? How do we work together more collaboratively? More accurately? How do we help see that all collaborators are on the same page?
The days of physical model building and standing around a drafting table have passed, but those processes solved a problem. If you get rid of them, they should be replaced with something. Architects have always had a need to understand physical space.
Designers used to render a scene by hand in colored pencils. They could draw very quickly and amazingly fast and create a rendering in seconds. That’s uncommon today. Making models in Revit is slow, and it’s a black box that not everyone understands. And it’s not iterative. I’m trying to fill that visualization gap with technology to replace the colored pencil. What if it had no barriers and was fast? How can we use AI in architecture? With AI and computational design, I see us closing that gap again, iterating at a rapid speed, the same way we could draw.
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Generative design explorations with AI by Daniel Massaro.
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Considering the AI in architecture conversation in the industry right now, where do you see its current application? And are there areas where we should wait and see before using it? Is there a race in the industry to use it?
Brendan: Yeah, everybody is saying they’re using it. When you go to a conference it seems like everyone is standing on stage saying they use AI in architecture. Many of them are exaggerating significantly. We’re at the point in the hype cycle where expectations are blown out of proportion. It’s all very new to us.
I’m an early adopter. I tell people that you shouldn’t form an opinion on it until you’ve tried it. And that’s why I encourage people to use ChatGPT in their daily lives. Or use the generative AI image-making software to help you execute design iteration services and speed up rendering times. Just get used to it so that you can form an opinion. Once you experiment with it, I think that’s when you start to see the connections to where it might solve other problems in your daily life.
Learn its strong points, learn its weaknesses, and you can collectively help the company move forward. I think it’s going to become like the Internet or electricity. It will be part of our daily process, and you won’t even really blink when you use it.
Where’s the technological change really happening in our industry? Where should we be paying attention?
Brendan: To give a data-driven answer, the place where I see the most fees associated with digital change is going on in virtual building design and construction with contractors and facilities management models for owners. This is owner driven because that’s where the financing is. We’re consultants. The owner largely defines the product.
And what they want is a highly coordinated 3D building. All these digital tools play into that. And AI in architecture will surely help with that one day. We’re already coordinating things with virtual reality. But the big push is that our major institutional clients want the exact building replicated in 3D.
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Essentially, we’re creating as close as possible to digital twins. Significant fees and time go into making that happen. The clients are willing to pay the fee because it saves them money in the long run.
From my perspective, it felt like virtual reality (VR) filtered into our design process but not through it. It pops up here and there. Some have embraced it. What’s happening with VR?
Brendan: When I get that question, I usually pull out my PlayStation VR headset for my PS5. It’s the coolest video gaming equipment that’s probably ever been created. But sales are low, and the consumer market has been weak. That’s a telltale sign.
Of course, in architecture and engineering, which tend to be behind the times in relation to technology, adoption will be even slower.
Part of me says it’s a change-management challenge within our industry. The industry hasn’t done enough yet to increase adoption. But the market’s still trying to find its place with VR, so it’s not completely our fault.
Meta continues to invest extremely heavily into VR, so if anyone will force the change— it is probably Mark Zuckerberg.
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From sketch to rendering, using AI as a tool for design visualization can enhance the iterative, collaborative communication with the client.
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There are also these cultural tipping points. Something seems odd and then suddenly it seems totally acceptable. It might be generational.
Brendan: I completely agree. A lot of what’s happening in our industry right now is generational.
There’s a cultural shift happening slowly where the digital natives are entering leadership within our industry and can make final calls. Things are moving much faster in terms of technology adoption than they were five years ago.
Previously there were people leading projects who rarely used BIM (building information modeling). And BIM was essentially a way to make PDF drawings. Now, we’re still making drawings. But the 3D world is so much more than that. The digital native generation is coming into a leadership position to define what the tool process is. We are at a tipping point where we’re going to see much more adoption of these tools across our industry.
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