Architecture has evolved for decades alongside technology. From computer-aided drafting to BIM (Building Information Modeling), digital visualization, and virtual reality, each new tool has brought opportunities to improve our work as architects and raised questions about what would be diminished along the way.
Now, artificial intelligence brings huge opportunities, along with predictions that new technology will fundamentally change, or even replace, the architectural profession.
We don’t see it that way. We do believe it will change the way we work, and that makes it important to be thoughtful about where we use it, and where we don’t.
At TBA, we see AI as another tool in our toolkit. A powerful one, certainly. But a tool, nonetheless.
Architecture requires judgment, curiosity, imagination, experience, empathy, and an understanding of how people live and work. A home design does not emerge from a blank piece of paper or computer screen simply by resolving dimensions or writing prompts to optimize a floor plan. It comes from human yearning, insight, and decisions that create a place that feels exactly right.
AI can help us execute the work. It cannot replace the yearning.
HOW WE USE AI
We are exploring AI wherever it can make our work more efficient, more informed, or easier to communicate.
It can assist with research, organization, written communication, administrative tasks, and other repetitive work, freeing our team to spend more time on the parts of the work where judgment and creativity matter most.
We are also beginning to incorporate AI assistance into portions of our visualization process.
But there is an important distinction: We do not use AI to create architecture.
The architecture of our projects, from their exterior shapes and interior spaces to their materials and details, is imagined and developed by our team. Once that design exists, AI-assisted tools can help us improve how we communicate it by enhancing lighting, atmosphere, landscape, texture, or environmental context within a rendering.
Our 2-D elevation, 3-D rendering, and AI-enhanced rendering of the front facade of an English Arts & Crafts rebuild in Altadena. This project was awarded Best Historical Design (Single Family Residential) at AIA Pasadena & Foothill’s 2026 Rebuild Design Awards.
PROTECTING THE CRAFT
As we embrace increasingly sophisticated technology, we also have a responsibility to protect something less measurable: the artistry and integrity of the profession itself.
There is something beautiful about starting with a pencil and a roll of tracing paper, a version of ‘thinking out loud’. In a hand sketch, you can see someone exploring an idea through searching lines and imperfect marks that soon become resolved. That process brings better design. Each mark on the page connects creativity to the hand. The sketch matters.
And if we are not careful, it could disappear. Not because technology makes it obsolete, but because technology makes it very easy to stop practicing it.
Our studio places real value on sketching, drawing, studying history, understanding proportion and materials, and learning the tactics architects have developed for generations. At the same time, we also want our team to understand and use the most advanced tools available to the profession.
We don’t see these goals as contradictory. Both can coexist. One can strengthen the other.
In many ways, this balance already defines our architecture. Much of our work is rooted in architectural history and precedent, and the details that have allowed cherished houses to remain beautiful for generations.
But being rooted in history does not prevent imagining the future. Our homes also incorporate sophisticated building systems and assemblies alongside the technology and amenities that support contemporary life.
Our use of AI is no different. We can respect the traditions and craft of architecture while embracing technology.
Our 2-D elevation, 3-D rendering, and AI-enhanced rendering of the pergola, ADU, and rear yard of a new Midwestern farmhouse-style residence in Los Angeles.
PROTECTING OUR HOMEOWNERS
Our responsibility to use AI responsibly extends well beyond design.
We are entrusted with our homeowners’ personal information. We know how our homeowners’ houses are organized and may have access to information about their personal lives.
We also work with project materials and correspondence that may be confidential or protected by a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
New technology makes it imperative that we are careful.
That is why TBA has developed an Artificial Intelligence Use, Confidentiality, and Professional Responsibility Policy governing how AI can be used by our team.
Confidential client and project information is never to be entered into public or unapproved AI platforms. Architectural drawings, client, and property identifiers, financial and security information, and other sensitive materials continue to be treated with rigorous discretion.
The technology may be new. Our pledge to our homeowners is not.
MORE TIME TO BE ARCHITECTS
Ultimately, the best technology should give us more time to be architects, designers, and artists.
If AI can reduce the time we spend on repetitive administrative and organizational work, that gives us more time to sketch, study precedent, develop a detail, visit a job site, work with a craftsperson, solve a difficult problem, or talk with our homeowners about how they want to live.
We are committed to leveraging the technology shaping our profession without losing sight of what makes practicing architecture a gift, not a re-gift.
AI is one more tool to help us do that, not a substitute for human intelligence and the care we must give to design for the future.
Our 2-D elevation, 3-D rendering, and AI-enhanced rendering of the south elevation, rear yard, and pool of a Craftsman Revival rebuild in Pacific Palisades.
