I believe AI replacing architectural assistance job (draft prj coordination render) will give a meaningful change to a profession - potentially doubling architects salary because we don’t have to waste our time and energy.
I have been eagerly waiting but I don’t see a sign yet and read an article AI won’t be real :(
Please tech bros save us
SneakyPete
Aug 21, 23 11:47 am
Are you serious? Was any architects' salary improved by the invention of CAD? of BIM?
No. We're the gold standard for taking efficiency improving technology and using it to hand the increased profits directly to the clients in order to undercut other architects.
Tech bros won't save shit, they're sociopathic narcissists.
ivanmillya
Aug 21, 23 12:31 pm
Agreed 100%.
On that note:
As long as our profession continues to try being the authority on "good design" as opposed to simply being experts on HSW (as our license represents), anything we do to meaningfully change our profession will simply end up in the pockets of our wealthier benefactors, while we continue to slide into obsolescence.
Fuck gatekeeping design, and fuck being the arbiter of taste over being experts in healthy and responsible spacemaking.
graphemic
Aug 21, 23 2:07 pm
This has got to be a troll.
Bench
Aug 21, 23 2:39 pm
This is so lazily written; i agree with above, definitely some pro-AI astroturfing.
AJgold
Aug 21, 23 6:35 pm
I can’t live 40k-70k a year when other industry get paid double because we are the keepers of “good design” it’s called slavery with passion. Architects and leadership can’t fix then I must have faith in Artificial Intelligence to do it for us.
Josh Mings
Aug 21, 23 9:37 pm
Well, this is something.
JLC-1
Aug 22, 23 4:30 pm
go to other industry please
Chad Miller
Aug 22, 23 4:32 pm
Oh look, and bot with poor writing skills.
AJgold
Aug 22, 23 8:10 pm
Probably draw better than you
Non Sequitur
Aug 22, 23 8:30 pm
^unlikely, esp if all you can get is 40-70k salary.
Chad Miller
Aug 27, 23 2:00 pm
AJgold - let's see some of your drawings.
b3tadine[sutures]
Aug 22, 23 5:02 am
I wish I knew what the hell you were talking about. The ayahuasca must be strong in this one.
Non Sequitur
Aug 22, 23 9:38 am
Doubling $ by removing some of the production options? How so... and what sorta of nonsense are you going on about? Clearly you have very little experience in this field.
AJgold
Aug 22, 23 8:13 pm
Think this way. Spend half the time to do the same job = doubling $. Think outside the box
Non Sequitur
Aug 22, 23 8:29 pm
Show me where AI can half the work while keeping a reasonable level of quality. Real clients pay for our insight and creative problem solving kills, they don’t pay us to click a few bottins and spit out generic products.
Wilma Buttfit
Aug 22, 23 9:54 am
I wish.
pandahut
Aug 22, 23 10:27 am
This should translate to: I wish architects created equity in their projects and were brought into ownership.
Chad Miller
Aug 22, 23 2:13 pm
There is a way you can do that - start your own firm.
pandahut
Aug 22, 23 4:10 pm
I meant more typological model of doing a project for a client (developer) and having skin in the game in the form of a return on profit annually. I guess these likely exist but I have never heard of any mid to large size offices reaping profit from designing a high end office building or apartment building year over year.
Non Sequitur
Aug 22, 23 4:29 pm
Will you also share in the losses? What about share in the legal fees/lawsuits and will you also contribute to the construction start-up costs, land costs, and are you okay waiting years and years for said "profit"? Such a silly concept once you take 3 seconds to think about it.
pandahut
Aug 22, 23 4:36 pm
Bad bot.
Donna Sink
Aug 22, 23 4:27 pm
If I lose my architectural drafting job I want a new job as an AI that knows how to backflip.
I have no idea what you are talking about with this post. The entire industry was revolutionized back in the 80s with pin bar drafting. Now most people in the field spend almost all of their time designing.
AJgold
Aug 22, 23 8:18 pm
Are you sure ?
____
Aug 22, 23 8:56 pm
Absolutely. The mylar sheets don't tear and the pin bar keeps everything lined up exactly. Tracing is a breeze and coordination is a snap.
AJgold
Aug 22, 23 8:17 pm
Option 1. Double your design time with same time spent for drafting and rendering. Same pay = better design
Option 2. Half your draft and rendering time. Same pay, same design time = you can do more projects
Option 3. Half your draft and rendering time, less design time, do more projects = more pay
If AI can help us - what’s wrong ?
Non Sequitur
Aug 22, 23 8:26 pm
Maybe if all you’re pumping out are cookie cuter and dead simple spec builds but clients who build in this space are starter than you and will quickly see that they are paying for far less services than before, and down go your fees.
Jay1122
Aug 23, 23 10:50 am
Uh, it will never happen. The day to day task will change, but salary will not improve.
BTW, have you ever looked at a drawing sets done in the 70/80s? The public school record drawing set I looked at had like 50 hand drawn sheets for the whole building. With CAD and BIM, the average set for the new building is 300-500 sheets. There is your answer what happens when AI comes. You will spend less time doing rendering and drafting, but a lot more time doing other stuff. Probably more coordination effort, perhaps more details, more design iterations, etc. But your salary will still be minimum livable wage. As long as there are endless starchitect wanna be graduates coming out of school every year willing to take that low pay position, It will not change. With the low salary, the business will offer low fee to clients in order to win the project. The cycle keeps going.
Jay1122
Aug 23, 23 11:17 am
You need to know how the architecture business model is run. Each firm has to calculate their overhead cost, production cost and expected profit. Then they have to compete with other firms on the fee based on the calculated numbers. Unless you are a starchitect with a special design reputation or have very loyal clients that do not care about fees. Most of the time it has to do with the fees. Especially for common cookie cutter developer projects and renovations.
Yes the AI improves the production efficiency, in theory it saved budget in the project production cost, thus raising the profit percentage. The nice boss gave your architect employees a big salary raise. Everyone seems happy. However, your competing architect also has improved efficiency using AI, he is not so nice and kept the original low salary for the employees. Now normally, if the low pay firm cannot hire employees to fill positions, the pay will have to go up. But the arch school churns out enough starchitect wanna be suckers every year to fill the spot in this low pay firm. The nasty firm lowers the fee and undercuts the nice high paying architect firm's fee to win the project. The paying firm cannot compete other than lower the fee and cut employee salary. Otherwise projects will dry out and need to close the door.
Of course this is generalization and over simplification. But you get the gist of it. We also need unions negotiated contract like UPS workers with that recent 170K pay package on the news. But AIA thinks that is a big no no for architects to bond together and raise fees. They think it is monopoly and market controlling.
Donna Sink
Aug 23, 23 12:15 pm
To be fair, the AIA isn't the one who thinks fee standards create a monopoly. The Department of Justice told them it *does* create a monopoly, so now the AIA has to be overly careful about how we discuss fees.
I believe AI replacing architectural assistance job (draft prj coordination render) will give a meaningful change to a profession - potentially doubling architects salary because we don’t have to waste our time and energy.
I have been eagerly waiting but I don’t see a sign yet and read an article AI won’t be real :(
Please tech bros save us
Are you serious? Was any architects' salary improved by the invention of CAD? of BIM?
No. We're the gold standard for taking efficiency improving technology and using it to hand the increased profits directly to the clients in order to undercut other architects.
Tech bros won't save shit, they're sociopathic narcissists.
Agreed 100%.
On that note:
As long as our profession continues to try being the authority on "good design" as opposed to simply being experts on HSW (as our license represents), anything we do to meaningfully change our profession will simply end up in the pockets of our wealthier benefactors, while we continue to slide into obsolescence.
Fuck gatekeeping design, and fuck being the arbiter of taste over being experts in healthy and responsible spacemaking.
This has got to be a troll.
This is so lazily written; i agree with above, definitely some pro-AI astroturfing.
I can’t live 40k-70k a year when other industry get paid double because we are the keepers of “good design” it’s called slavery with passion. Architects and leadership can’t fix then I must have faith in Artificial Intelligence to do it for us.
Well, this is something.
go to other industry please
Oh look, and bot with poor writing skills.
Probably draw better than you
^unlikely, esp if all you can get is 40-70k salary.
AJgold - let's see some of your drawings.
I wish I knew what the hell you were talking about. The ayahuasca must be strong in this one.
Doubling $ by removing some of the production options? How so... and what sorta of nonsense are you going on about? Clearly you have very little experience in this field.
Think this way. Spend half the time to do the same job = doubling $. Think outside the box
Show me where AI can half the work while keeping a reasonable level of quality. Real clients pay for our insight and creative problem solving kills, they don’t pay us to click a few bottins and spit out generic products.
I wish.
This should translate to: I wish architects created equity in their projects and were brought into ownership.
There is a way you can do that - start your own firm.
I meant more typological model of doing a project for a client (developer) and having skin in the game in the form of a return on profit annually. I guess these likely exist but I have never heard of any mid to large size offices reaping profit from designing a high end office building or apartment building year over year.
Will you also share in the losses? What about share in the legal fees/lawsuits and will you also contribute to the construction start-up costs, land costs, and are you okay waiting years and years for said "profit"? Such a silly concept once you take 3 seconds to think about it.
Bad bot.
If I lose my architectural drafting job I want a new job as an AI that knows how to backflip.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/0...
I have no idea what you are talking about with this post. The entire industry was revolutionized back in the 80s with pin bar drafting. Now most people in the field spend almost all of their time designing.
Are you sure ?
Absolutely. The mylar sheets don't tear and the pin bar keeps everything lined up exactly. Tracing is a breeze and coordination is a snap.
Option 1. Double your design time with same time spent for drafting and rendering. Same pay = better design
Option 2. Half your draft and rendering time. Same pay, same design time = you can do more projects
Option 3. Half your draft and rendering time, less design time, do more projects = more pay
If AI can help us - what’s wrong ?
Maybe if all you’re pumping out are cookie cuter and dead simple spec builds but clients who build in this space are starter than you and will quickly see that they are paying for far less services than before, and down go your fees.
Uh, it will never happen. The day to day task will change, but salary will not improve.
BTW, have you ever looked at a drawing sets done in the 70/80s? The public school record drawing set I looked at had like 50 hand drawn sheets for the whole building. With CAD and BIM, the average set for the new building is 300-500 sheets. There is your answer what happens when AI comes. You will spend less time doing rendering and drafting, but a lot more time doing other stuff. Probably more coordination effort, perhaps more details, more design iterations, etc. But your salary will still be minimum livable wage. As long as there are endless starchitect wanna be graduates coming out of school every year willing to take that low pay position, It will not change. With the low salary, the business will offer low fee to clients in order to win the project. The cycle keeps going.
You need to know how the architecture business model is run. Each firm has to calculate their overhead cost, production cost and expected profit. Then they have to compete with other firms on the fee based on the calculated numbers. Unless you are a starchitect with a special design reputation or have very loyal clients that do not care about fees. Most of the time it has to do with the fees. Especially for common cookie cutter developer projects and renovations.
Yes the AI improves the production efficiency, in theory it saved budget in the project production cost, thus raising the profit percentage. The nice boss gave your architect employees a big salary raise. Everyone seems happy. However, your competing architect also has improved efficiency using AI, he is not so nice and kept the original low salary for the employees. Now normally, if the low pay firm cannot hire employees to fill positions, the pay will have to go up. But the arch school churns out enough starchitect wanna be suckers every year to fill the spot in this low pay firm. The nasty firm lowers the fee and undercuts the nice high paying architect firm's fee to win the project. The paying firm cannot compete other than lower the fee and cut employee salary. Otherwise projects will dry out and need to close the door.
Of course this is generalization and over simplification. But you get the gist of it. We also need unions negotiated contract like UPS workers with that recent 170K pay package on the news. But AIA thinks that is a big no no for architects to bond together and raise fees. They think it is monopoly and market controlling.
To be fair, the AIA isn't the one who thinks fee standards create a monopoly. The Department of Justice told them it *does* create a monopoly, so now the AIA has to be overly careful about how we discuss fees.