What the management of a global architectural firm taught me the power of AI to transform business

Each large space begins with a story – the hopes of a community, the values of a culture, a future imagined together. Whether it is an arena, a hotel or a city center, the design of its best captures something deeper than the shape or function. This evokes emotion. This stages the stories that we live every day.
Today, artificial intelligence (AI) does not only change the way we conceive; It is to transform the way in which we amuing experiences thanks to the design. We consider AI not as a substitute but as a creative partner – the one who helps us to light the emotional nucleus of a space well before its construction. It allows us to imagine and communicate the human experience of design in a more lively and resonant than ever.
At Gensler, our studios, designers, strategists and storytellers – from Shanghai to San Francisco, in London in Los Angeles – kiss AI with curiosity and goal. It is not a question of replacing intuition; It is a question of expanding it. The teams draw from AI not only to move faster, but to go further – offering the best creative thought, immersive narration and design in the future.
In the end, an excellent design is recalled for the way it feels people. A hospital that provides calm and clarity. A school that arouses curiosity. A workplace that allows people to do their best. These are not static environments. These are stories that take place in real time, shaped by the people who cross them.
Prototyping of human experience with AI
Imagine someone who experiences a medical emergency. They arrive at the disoriented hospital, but from the moment they enter, the space makes its part – guiding them clearly and calmly towards care. With AI, we can design this experience from scratch, testing how the arrangement, light and flow support not only access, but comfort, speed and dignity. These moments, once imagined, can now be felt and refined in advance.
In an airport, we can project the trip of a traveler who arrives late, stressed and exceeded – and shape the space around them to offer clarity and relief. With AI, we can study how spatial elements shape the experience: how natural light floods a hall to reduce anxiety, how the ceiling height and the lines of view influence a feeling of opening, how seats, flow and acoustics create chaos or calm. It is not only a question of effectively moving people; This is how architecture itself supports their physical and emotional transition. In this way, we improve the whole trip – transforming the airport from a crossing point into a place of reception.
At the workplace, we can simulate the subtle choreography of human interaction. A spontaneous conversation of the corridor which leads to a breakthrough. An ideat team in a space shared with good light, acoustics and flexibility. Even what a new employee could feel the first day – welcomed, oriented and inspired, or lost in a maze of unknown faces and spaces. AI helps us to visualize how these moments take place, which allows us to design not only for productivity, but for the possibility, belonging and connection.
These are not abstract concepts. We already use AI – Generative video tools, scenarios modeling, rendered in real time – to explore these narrative layers. We create immersive overviews that allow us to test what people can feel in a space, how the atmosphere changes throughout the day, how design can increase or inhibit involuntarily. AI allows us to design the storyboard as a living emotional experience. And our customers feel the difference. With these tools, we see iterations of considerably faster design and a richer co -creation that allow customers to connect more deeply with the emotional and strategic intention of their projects – well before a plan was formalized. This early alignment reinforces not only a consensus, but a conviction – a shared vision which feeds the objective and accelerates decision -making. What took weeks of iteration, we are now exploring in a few days, compressing the time of the concept to clarity. The next chapter of design
This is the new border of design narration. However, even if the tools evolve, the role of the designer remains constant. Our job is always to listen, interpret, imagine and inspire. AI technology simply gives us more ways to do it – with greater empathy, creativity and precision.
But this also requires responsibilities. We are not only using AI – we feel so to reflect the integrity of our profession. Rather than pressing a button, we build advanced and customizable workflows that honor the design process and human stories at the base. From the generation of inclusive characters to the nuanced space simulation, our tools are guided by ethical railings centered on man. In partnership with the platforms most ready for the company, we proactively design a responsible AI-Ecosystem-which evolves with intention and care as technology is progressing.
AI is not there to replace creativity. It is here to amplify it – revealing emotional models that we could otherwise miss and help us move from inspiration to iteration with greater speed and substance.
In the end, AI cannot feel – but it can help us to design feelings. He can help us listen to more closely, create more intuitively and design with a clearer sense of humanity. Because spaces are not just house stories; They become them. They hold our aspirations, our identities and the calm moments between the two. With the power of AI, we open new channels to connect hearts and minds, creating experiences that resonate more deeply and last much longer.
The question is not what we can design. This is what we choose to design – and why. Because the future of design does not concern machines. This is meaning. This is memory. And it starts with a story.
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