Frame Magazine – Issue 157

Frame Magazine Issue 157 is available now on loremnotipsum.com. The Summer edition of FRAME delves deep into the critical factors the design industry must confront in a future dominated by AI, extended realities and other cutting-edge technologies.

In her editorial for FRAME’s newly released summer issue, editor in chief Floor Kuitert discusses what industry shifts generative tools and other tech-led innovations are bringing about.

Fluffy pink façades, air balloon architecture and mad mashups of monuments. Since the rise of AI image generators, my social media feed has filled itself with all kinds of artificial scenes dubbed ‘utopian’ and ‘whimsical’. But after the initial amazement about the (arguably now monotonous) aesthetic that comes with these otherworldly visual conceptualizations, I am left wondering what the use and meaning of it all is. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. Will these fantastical images truly inform our physical environments? And would we even want them to take physical shape? What, actually, makes them utopian? Is it just a fad in response to the release of these technologies, or will we see a rise in today’s equivalent of paper architects? Looking at the phenomena from the perspective of the professionals whose work usually adorns the pages of FRAME, more questions pop up, the first being: Will the underlying technologies enabling the creation of these imaginative environments – in seconds, not months – impact or even eliminate the (interior) architect’s raison d’être?

It’s easy to spiral into a pessimistic train of thought when it comes to developments that are still somewhat elusive. Or at least to be sceptical and see more obstacles than opportunities. Especially since some relatively recent, and at first promising, tech-driven innovations have not quite reached their potential. Take the NFT. As Ruben de la Rive Box of artistic practice Rive Roshan said during a Milan Design Week talk hosted by FRAME and Glue at the exhibition Solidified: ‘It started as a token of authenticity and in that sense, it can still have value. But it became linked to a jpeg of a monkey with an ice cream.’ The business benefit of NFTs for artists hasn’t quite lifted off either. ‘At some point there was even this discussion that, through these digital identifiers, an artist could benefit financially from resells in the aftermarket. It was this real excitement, but then it got cloudy,’ says De la Rive Box.The hype deflated. Facing similar decreasing enthusiasm and reduced investments, the metaverse is suffering from the same predicament.

At this point you might start to wonder why we’re dedicating an entire issue to all of the above. Well, after speaking with industry professionals about the emergence of AI, extended realities and other things tech-led in defining our editorial agenda, a sense of urgency, but also optimism, prevailed. NFTs can incentivize sustainable consumerism, the metaverse can evolve into a multiverse, and AI can offer previously unimaginable opportunities. Architects and designers might not have much of a choice in embracing AI – in FRAME 157’s The Conversation, British theorist and professor of architecture Neil Leach says ‘nobody in the future can afford not to use AI’ – but it will also free them from mundane tasks, allowing them the time to focus on creativity. And although the role of the designer might change, it won’t cease to exist. Going back to the above-mentioned AI-generated images, Leach’s interlocutor, XKool’s Wanyu He, says: ‘Images are not design. Design starts with investigating issues and then coming up with an argument based on those issues, a scenario based on that argument, and a solution based on that scenario. Eventually we arrive at the design, and then finally at the images – the representation of that design. Today, AI can provide those representations, but decisions need to be made at each preceding step. And even when AI goes beyond generating images to generating different design options, we will still need experts to help clients make decisions.’

Beyond the role of the designer, our new issue will show what other industry shifts generative tools are bringing about – from optimizing architecture to become more species- and planet-centric, to democratizing the evolvement and ownership of our built environment, altering the sellingscape and more. We learned a lot ourselves while producing this issue, with ChatGPT at our disposal, and we hope the following pages will plant the seeds for further exploration. As, in the words of Leach: ‘[AI] is going to disrupt the profession, for better or worse. The sooner we get up and running with it, the better.’

Frame is the world’s leading interior design publication. Since its launch in 1997, the magazine has remained faithful to its mission: putting interior architecture on the map as a creative profession that’s equally important as design and architecture. In six issues per year, Frame publishes the world’s most inspiring interiors, spiced up with design, art and creative endeavours like window displays and stage sets. Sold in 77 countries, Frame is printed in English.

Content: Frame Magazine – Issue 157

• The Summer edition of FRAME delves deep into the critical factors the design industry must confront in a future dominated by AI, extended realities and other cutting-edge technologies.