Explorations of AI Style Reference and 2D to 3D AI Video for Architecture
The Firehose of AI Content
As the role of AI in architecture evolves, generating novel styles and keeping them consistent with style reference tools will soon be a critical part of the design process of all architects.
Now you may ask, why? In a recent opinion piece for Building Design Online, when discussing the future role of AI in blending tradition with innovation, architect Andy Shaw writes “Artificial intelligence is enabling the design of more expressive buildings, which fuse a myriad of cultural references to create a new vernacular that transcends traditional architecture’s approach to decoration.” I entirely agree with this sentiment, but when most people see the firehose of random crazy-looking AI architecture photos flooding the internet, that begs the question: How can we expect AI to start a real design movement? If everyone is always doing their own thing or moving on to the next idea that takes 10 seconds to generate, how can any one design concept get the momentum and public acceptance it needs to be built on a large scale?
Well, with the development of style reference and creative fusion features across all major AI image generators, it has never been easier for architects using AI to take an image of one of their buildings, or of a style they want to study, and expand upon it. In minutes you could take your unique concept for a house and get ideas for how to apply your original style to an apartment, a community center, a skyscraper, a streetcar, a city plan, or a sofa.
The ability of AI to help designers envision their ideas in a novel context is unmatched and will allow architects to effortlessly produce entire portfolios, even masterplans, in an original style they truly want to design. All it takes is a concept and the curiosity to ask how far that concept can go.
An Introduction to Style Bytes
This post will be the first in a series of posts called “Style Bytes”, each exploring a style I have been working with lately, from the familiar, to the novel. Each post will explain the core design concept, list key features, and provide some examples of the style applied to different contexts.
I predict that exercises like Style Bytes, where architects use AI style references to evolve one idea into an entire family of design concepts, will become a key part architectural practice as AI tools become more widely adopted.
Furthermore, platforms for sharing, discussing, and remixing these ideas will provide the constructive criticism and consensus-building needed to turn the firehose of random AI generated content into actual focused and feasible design movements as communities coalesce around entirely new design ideas for the 21st century.
So, let’s take a look at our first Style Byte, Sunrise Prairie.
I stumbled across this concept in the brief but exciting existence of BlueWillow (sadly no longer publicly available) to create the image above using the following prompt:
futuristic art nouveau solarpunk prairie style architecture, organic shaped, intricate ornate filigree detailing, highly detailed, Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style, 3D printed architectural villa, with long glass windows, accent lighting, chaparral landscaping, illuminated pond, during a bright foggy sunrise, archdaily photo, photo of intricate ornate architectural detail, close-up, window filigree detailing, architectural close-up detail photo –ar 3:2
It didn’t quite get the close-up or chaparral right. Instead it did more of a marshy prairie landscape typical of Frank Lloyd Wright’s midwestern projects, but what it did produce were questions and ideas. These included:
- The harp-like vertical wood stiles wood on the east wing. Are they a brise solei? A trellis?
- The horizontal striations along the façade. Could this be a 3D printed concrete, striated sandstone, or rammed earth construction, or maybe it looks better as just weathered wood shiplap?
- What could be causing the warm orange glow around the windows? Is it an interior design choice, a warm brassy finish on the windows, a lighting choice, or just sunrise reflections
- What’s going on with the roof line? Maybe a roof terrace or undulating standing seam metal roofing.
- The back slope on the east and west wings, giving the building a ship-like appearance sailing through the marsh. This is effectively an elevation, so how is the rest of this building shaped and what might the other side look like?
Even though we’re just looking at a statistically probably jumble of pixels spit out by a machine, it’s questions like these that challenge architects to refine what they see and identify a concept for their design process.
One could argue that a picture is worth a thousand words so the overall “vibe” of this image is the concept, but if I had to summarize it in words, this opulent home’s concept is that it’s a place of warmth, horizontality, and craftsmanship, existing somewhere between a rustic old shipwreck on the lakeshore, and a sandstone riverbank, reminding you of the dynamism it took to carve:
The Importance of Style References
Before we can dive into this Style Byte in earnest, we need to first look into why a reference image is important. For example, with the exact same prompt but no reference image, Midjourney goes in an entirely different direction, with wild organic curves. It loses a lot of the prairie style influence and specific details noted above. Here are some examples from Midjourney versions 4, 5, and 6 showing a consistent bias towards unrealistic forms.
Compared to text prompting alone, Midjourney’s three forms of image reference tend to work a bit better (Image reference, style reference, and character reference) but it is up to the Midjourney user to determine which methods are most effective for their particular project.
Style reference can even be used to enhance an existing image. By feeding the same low resolution image into Alpaca AI Rendering as both the subject and style reference, you can create a higher quality image and refine some of the sketchier details earlier AI models struggled with.
This goes to show that style reference images are absolutely critical for consistency in this type of design process. Once again, a picture is worth 1000 words. Now let’s use this feature to explore different applications of this “Sunrise Prairie” style.
AI Explorations: Sunrise Prairie
Like many designers, I felt the need to expand upon this concept by improving the image quality, creating ideas for the interior and other exterior views, and imagining other buildings in this style. Using our existing image of a long, narrow “Sunrise Prairie” Style estate as the concept, let’s explore some more ideas using this style:
Bit 1:
Some nearby estates in a Sunrise Prairie style.
Bit 2:
Some interior shots of intricate millwork, bespoke furnishings, plus an affinity for wood and water.
Bit 3:
This community needs a downtown so maybe we need a stylish office building in this neighborhood or an elegant community center.
Bit 4:
How about some concepts for a commercial area?
Bit 5:
Now obviously you may have realized no one can afford these first several options. But we can help fix that with style references. The concepts you develop one day for a custom home could soon be optimized and reimagined for more affordable large scale production. So lets start thinking more in terms of density. How about instead of our long narrow mansions and institutional buildings, we have string of apartments along a courtyard walking path?
Bit 6:
Of course we don’t want this to be a car-centric exurb, so we definitely need to locate this around some transit.
Bit 7:
What if you just want a little slice of this style to call your own? In that case we can use style reference tools to imagine this seemingly grand and opulent style scaled down to the manageable size of a small, cozy cottage of the future.
Bit 8:
And finally, what more can we do to convey what it might be like to experience this Sunrise Prairie style? One word: Motion. So, with a little help from the animation tools of Immersity AI to turn 2D images into 3D depth maps and videos, along with inspiration from AI architecture luminaries like Iosif Gkinis and Sebastien Ollier, we can bring these concepts to life.Song Credit: Savfk – The Travelling Symphony
https://youtube.com/savfkmusic
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This is just one Style Byte of what I think is a particularly exciting aesthetic. If you want to learn more about the tools used to create these images, check out the posts below:
Conclusion
Did you like this Style Byte and want to learn more about how to use AI in your architecture design process? If so, check out our other posts linked above, leave a comment or question below, or subscribe to our free newsletter here on Pixels to Plans.
Also, if you have a Style Byte you would like to share, you can contact the editor here for a chance to be featured in a future Style Bytes post.
About the Author
AcanthusAlchemist
Designer and engineer exploring the intersection of AI, architecture, and urbanism.
email: acanthus@pixelstoplans.com
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Photo Credits:
[i] https://www.jsonline.com/story/travel/wisconsin/2017/06/29/trip-tips-things-do-dells-and-baraboo/435257001/
Chelsey Lewis; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
[ii] https://www.blogto.com/travel/2020/11/la-grande-hermine-ontario/
@james_bombales/Instagram.
Song Credits:
Savfk – The Travelling Symphony
License: Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
https://youtube.com/savfkmusic
Music powered by BreakingCopyright: https://breakingcopyright.com