Image Generation: Artificial intelligence, creativity and design

Generative AI can produce images at remarkable speed, but what does that change for the people who imagine, shape and make the built environment? Image Generation: Artificial intelligence, creativity and design approaches that question through a thoughtful mix of architectural theory and hands-on experimentation, edited by Hamza Shaikh.

Across its contributions, the book considers AI not simply as a way to make pictures, but as a developing set of tools that may alter how design ideas are explored, tested and translated into form. The emphasis is on the evolving relationship between human creativity and computational processes.

From generated images to designed objects

Practical workflow chapters trace experiments that move between media and stages of design. Topics include converting 2D imagery into 3D, iterating building façades in real time, using prompts in furniture design, creating digital collages that lead toward 3D models, and robotic mark-making. The projects bring the discussion down to the level of specific creative processes rather than leaving AI at the level of abstract possibility.

The questions behind the workflows

The collection also examines issues that accompany the tools: bias in generated imagery, the effects of AI on professional practice, changing forms of architectural representation, and the climate implications of data centres. These theoretical chapters give readers a wider frame for considering not only what generative AI can do, but also the assumptions and consequences that come with using it.

A collection for curious designers

With theory, practical workflows and a short story imagining architects’ roles in 2040, the book offers varied perspectives on a fast-changing field. It will be of particular interest to architects, designers and students who want to explore generative AI while thinking critically about its place in creative work.

For readers navigating the meeting point of design and artificial intelligence, this is an invitation to experiment—and to keep asking what human creativity brings to the process.