An architect has used MidJourney artificial intelligence to imagine the skyscrapers of the future, designed from natural materials and capable of purifying the air. Take a look at the stunning result…
Faced with climate change and the energy crisis, humanity must rethink large cities. New Delhi-based architect Manas Bhatia imagines a future where residential skyscrapers are covered with trees, plants and algae, and serve to purify the air.
Climate sceptics and other detractors may find this idea utopian. However, to lend credence to his vision, Bhatia has used AI to bring it to life.
AI x Future Cities: a glimpse of the buildings of the future
For its “AI x Future Cities” project, Bhatia used MidJourney. This artificial intelligence is capable of generate images from words entered by the user. To find out more about MidJourney, read our full report.
From a series of textual descriptionsincluding words such as ” futuristic towers “, ” utopian technology “, ” symbiotic “, ” bioluminescent material “Bhatia let MidJourney generate a series of digital images.
In order to perfect the designs, the architect then spent time editing his text descriptions. Each text was modified a hundred times.
According to him, it took about 20 minutes to make each of these images. Bhatia subsequently used Photoshop to enhance them manually.
The result is striking. The imaginary buildings rise up and overlook a futuristic metropolis, with curved shapes inspired by nature…
Symbiotic Architecture: a skyscraper inspired by the Giant Sequoias
For another project entitled ” Symbiotic Architecture “Bhatia has imagined a future where buildings are made of living materials. Using words like giant ” or “ dug “, he led MidJourney to produce images illustrating his ” utopian future “in which apartments will be carved out of huge trees…
This concept was inspired by Hyperion: a 115-metre sequoia in California considered the world’s largest living tree. In addition, the architect drew on his work with the architectural firm Ant Studio to renovate buildings with new facades that encourage natural ventilation and reduce energy consumption.
His idea was to create a ” skin “natural skin for buildingsinspired by nature and by the way in which the cooling process evaporation and transpiration occurs in the plant world.
Thus, towers could regulate their own temperature throughout the day. Bhatia’s ambition is to create building materials capable of living and growing, so that buildings can be ventilated via this natural process.
How AI will revolutionize architecture
The artificial intelligences for artistic creation such as MidJourney, Google Imagen or OpenAI DALL-E are increasingly used by creators of all kinds.
In August 2022, a Coloradian video game designer won an art competition. by presenting an image created with MidJourney. His victory sparked controversy, and fueled the anger of artists on social networks.
However, Bhatia believes that AI is just a new tool. According to him, ” art is totally open to interpretation, and an artist can use any kind of tool to create art “. He adds that “anyone can use AI, but won’t be able to get as good a result as a creative person. “.
This architect is convinced that AI will be used more and more in the world of art and design. In his view, by enabling users to produce things beyond their imagination, this technology can inspire new ideas and enrich the design process.
He even envisages a future in which AI can generate 3D designs and integrate them into the software used by architects to model their creations…