Imagined Architectures

Exhibition at Etopia 1 July 2021 to 31 Jan 2022

This exhibition of architectural designs is imagined by an artificial intelligence (AI) system. In the images, nature is sometimes integrated in a subtle and quiet way, and at other times erupts with vibrancy and exuberance. The images and time-lapse videos were generated by the mind of the AI system, using two deep-learning neural models, one for generation and one for guidance. This was done by travelling through what is known as the latent space, using a generative adversarial network (GAN) to turn latent inputs into architectural images. These fantastic pictures can serve as inspiration for architectural and urban design, with the GAN aesthetics providing a mirage of something that could exist, perhaps really does exist, or at least: we would love to exist.

Artist and AI researcher Simon Colton generated the images here starting from just quotations from famous female architects. The AI system then used the words to drive the generation of architectural images which reflect the sentiment of the quote. This involves the handling of light and its relationship with space, atmosphere and colours. All of these seem to awaken in the viewer a vision of organic constructions in harmony with the environment.

This virtual exhibition, curated by Blanca Pérez Ferrer for etopia wants to celebrate how human and artificial creativity can interplay to help us imagine buildings of the future, combining art and technology, science and aesthetics, to build the cities of tomorrow.