MONDAY | SEPT 23 | 4PM | AB 100

Phillip Bernstein, FAIA and deputy dean and professor adjunct at Yale School of Architecture, will present “WHO IS THE ARCHITECT? Understanding Professional Agency in the Emergent Era of AI” at Ball State University’s Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning on Sept. 23, 2024.

LECTURE DESCRIPTION:

In an upcoming paper, architect and historian George Johnston ask a central question in an era where technology is increasingly autonomous: who is the architect? He argues that this definition has evolved over time, and it’s clear that this evolution will continue as knowledge work is increasingly automated, augmented and/or eliminated by algorithms. What does this question mean for the future of our profession, our roles, responsibilities, obligations, and education? This talk will attempt to set some context for the current evolution of AI, set against the history of digitization in architecture, and speculate on possible futures and strategies for architecture.

BIO:

Mr. Bernstein is a former vice president at Autodesk, where he was responsible for the company’s building information modeling strategy that included the development of the Revit platform. Prior to Autodesk, he was an associate principal at Cesar Pelli & Associates where he managed many of the firm’s most complex commissions including projects for the Mayo Clinic, Washington National Airport, and Goldman Sachs. He is the author of Architecture Design Data: Practice Competency in the Era of Computation published by Birkhauser in 2018, and Machine Learning: Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by the RIBA Publishing in 2022. He is a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council and former chair of the AIA Contracts Documents Committee. He received his B.A and M.Arch from Yale University.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

  • Understand the evolution of artificial intelligence and its current and potential future roles in practice.
  • Situate the architect in project delivery and business models today and evaluate the possible evolution of these frameworks in an AI-enabled future.
  • Define potential the potential challenges of AI-based architectural process, including technical, ethical, and financial implications.
  • Speculate on potential strategies for the profession and educators to create proactive strategies to take best advantage of AI.

ECAP lectures are free and open to the public. For more information email caplectures@bsu.edu.