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Research & Art

CRAFT BOT: Physical Prototyping Through Large Language Models

Craft Bot is a hands-on research project exploring how large language models can contribute to real-world architectural design. Taking inspiration from James Bridle’s 2024 experiments—where AI was used to generate assembly instructions for a wooden chair—this project shifts the focus to something more ambitious: designing and constructing a small, prefabricated cabin in the spirit of a Finnish mökki. The goal is to test whether today’s large language models, which work through complex problems by documenting their steps on a “sketchpad” before delivering an answer, can produce physical designs that are not only imaginative but also structurally sound and buildable.
An image of a building emphasizing how structural elements (beams) together with surfaces create a coherent whole.
Concept image of a structure under construction created with a hybrid AI workflow, including upscaling a render of an AI generated 3D model in Blender (credit {protocell:labs})

From brief via plans to construction, with AI

Several LLMs will be given the same brief, and their responses will be compared, refined, and translated into detailed plans, diagrams, and ultimately a physical prototype. To improve the AI design problem solving, we propose to develop a “Design System Prompt” - a minimal, structured instruction set for the LLM to follow while solving the design problem. This set of instructions will be concise, non-exhaustive, and based on contemporary standards and best design practices. The process and outcomes will be shared through a public exhibition and a written contribution to the field of computational design.

The project will be led by Luka Piškorec, previously a lecturer at Aalto University and researcher at ETH Zürich. He is a co-founder of TEN Studio (Zürich and Belgrade) and {protocell:labs} (Helsinki), practices that work at an intersection of architecture, design, digital art and research.

The project is part of art-ai-fact initiative.

art-ai-fact

A developing collection of design projects with an AI element to them, building understanding of AI's contribution to design at Aalto ARTS.

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Evolumination at DDW 2023, by Kollegi.
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