Workflow / 01
Compare site options without losing the assumptions
A repeatable early-feasibility review that separates automated exploration from the decision to proceed.
THE AI DESK
AI for architecture
Start with the design decision. Compare architecture AI tools, follow practical workflows and separate available products from experiments and research.
A working guide to the tools changing architectural practice.
8Tool profiles
3Practical workflows
5Selected developments
09.30Reviewed · 2026
Read the output, not just the promise. These profiles summarize official documentation, not hands-on product reviews. Evaluation checklists are GAD editorial recommendations. Availability is scoped to the named feature; an experimental feature does not make the entire platform experimental. No paid placement determines this selection.
START WITH A QUESTION
What do you need to decide?
Workflow / 02
Turn a brief into a layout you can audit
Keep room requirements, adjacencies and human decisions visible through the move from written brief to editable plan.
Workflow / 03
Explore a visual direction without changing the design by accident
A controlled image-review method for material, atmosphere and client communication, with geometry checks at each acceptance point.
TOOLS IN CONTEXT
A tool is only useful if its output is.
Massing → floor plans
Autodesk Forma · Building Layout Explorer
Test the connection between a building envelope and the plans it could accommodate. An experimental workflow inside Forma Site Design.
Experimental
Site feasibility
TestFit · Generative Design
Compare site-development schemes using explicit typologies, targets and filters before committing to a preferred solve.
Available · vendor documented
Reusable plan systems
Finch
A plan-library approach for firms that want generated layouts to start from their own repeatable design knowledge.
Available · vendor documented
Visualization & 3D exploration
Chaos Veras
AI ideation inside a visualization ecosystem. Check whether the output you need is a concept image, an asset or editable scene geometry.
Available · vendor documented
Space programming
Hypar · AI Chat & layout suggestions
Use natural-language assistance and furnished layout suggestions to interrogate a space program before committing to a plan.
Beta
Brief → spatial blocks
Snaptrude AI
An editable early-design workflow beginning with a brief and site, with a published distinction between initial features and roadmap ambitions.
Available · vendor documented
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
What changed—and what still needs checking
Selected dated developments from primary sources, reviewed on 30 September 2026. An editorial selection, not a live or comprehensive news feed.
· Announcement date
Announced · availability variesAutodesk sets out its next connected AI workflows
The AU announcement discusses site questions through Autodesk Assistant and multifamily layout comparisons in Forma. Its language mixes existing capabilities with future-facing plans.
Context & next step· Effective change date
Available · vendor documentedArchicad 28 Visualizer moves to English-only prompts
Graphisoft’s transition notice says AI Visualizer 1.0 in Archicad 28 accepts English prompts only from 10 September. It schedules full retirement for 9 October 2026.
Context & next step· Preprint revision date · v3
Research preprintPlanCraft treats the floor plan as a constraint for 3D generation
This research preprint explores progressive sketch-to-plan refinement followed by furnishing inside established room boundaries. The first submission was 26 July; this entry uses the 5 September revision.
Context & next stepFOR ARCHITECTURE TECHNOLOGY BRANDS
Put a useful product in context.
Discuss a clearly labelled AI-column sponsorship or bilingual product feature. Editorial assessments remain independent.
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