Can GenAI boost architectural design? It depends on experience
Can AI make architecture students better designers? A controlled study of 36 students compared solo work to a second round with either Generative AI or a repository of past projects. Experts rated designs; students reported confidence and mental effort.
What they found:
- No overall performance boost from GenAI versus the repository.
- Novices improved significantly with GenAI; more experienced students did not.
- Students using GenAI felt lower general creative self-efficacy.
- Cognitive load was similar across groups, but prompts that iterated on ideas and asked for visual feedback correlated with lower mental effort.
GenAI helps beginners—how you prompt matters.
Takeaway: Match tools to experience, and prompt iteratively for ideas and visuals to lighten mental load.
Paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10696v1 (Han Jiang, Yao Xiao, Rachel Hurley, Shichao Liu)
Paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10696v1
Register: https://www.AiFeta.com
#GenerativeAI #Architecture #Design #Creativity #CognitiveLoad #Education #UXResearch #AI
