Interview with Elena Manferdini: AI, Creativity, and the Evolving Role of the Architect
Interview with Elena Manferdini: AI, Creativity, and the Evolving Role of the Architect by Daniela Morera
In this conversation with Elena Manferdini, founder and director of Atelier Manferdini and director of graduate programs at SCI-Arc, we explored the transformative role of artificial intelligence in architecture and design. We talked about the role of an architect as multidisciplinary and adaptable, using the tools at our disposal to imagine a better future.
The Art of the Impossible: Embracing AI and Virtual Tools in Architectural Practice
Your recent work explores AI and virtual environments, and you’ve used the phrase “the art of the impossible.” Can you expand on how these tools could shape architectural practice, and why it’s important for young designers to engage with them?
Manferdini started this conversation by stating that “artificial intelligence is an unavoidable revolution.” She spoke about its capacity for knowledge and thinking in ways humans already do. It becomes a tool for the democratization of knowledge that will change the way we learn and understand knowledge, which also makes it more accessible to others.
She explained that AI is currently a technological race with a lot of capital being invested and to be made from it. It is a space that will continue to grow and will eventually become a way of living. She states, “ I think in 2025, AI is everywhere. It's in our laptops, browsers, and cell phones, but I think it's more than that. The help of AI will produce strong advancements, so certain things that were just philosophical questions will become active research.”
In terms of our roles as architects, she concluded that we will always exist as long as we think as generalists. Her multidisciplinary approach in her work allows her to adapt to these technological times. We just need to learn how to ask the right questions with AI to continue moving forward, and we might be surprised by what we end up learning.
Time, Creativity, and the AI Workflow
Do you think AI will give architects more time to be creative in the concept phase by streamlining processes, or is it leading to a completely new way of working?
Manferdini asserted that artificial intelligence has already drastically changed the workflow. Certain aspects of labor are no longer needed, but that does not mean it is making our lives easier; it has just changed the way we work. She proclaimed, “I don't think we are going to save time, we're just gonna give ourselves new ways of working.”
From Concept to Craft: Exploring a Multidisciplinary Design Process
Your work spans multiple disciplines and blends artistic expression with architectural function. Can you share a bit about your concept development process and how you balance creativity with functionality?
“I think projects in architecture and design come in families.” Manferdini started off saying. Creativity is not just the response to project limitations, but by working in families, we can start approaching solutions in a multidisciplinary and multiscale way. Every project becomes an excuse to execute that creative idea, and not just by providing one solution for a specific project.
Speculative Futures: How AI Informs Design for Climate Challenges
Our project brief focuses on designing for extreme environments and imagining future scenarios shaped by environmental change. How do you see AI contributing to this kind of speculative design work?
AI has the possibilities of creating new ecologies that connect different types of creativity, which unquestionably unleashes possibilities that she discussed in her earlier lecture about the political value of utopias. Visually, AI creates a space that allows multiple ontologies to exist, which makes us think about new possibilities, and will allow us to expand our creativity.