I asked AI to Design a New Urbanist Seaside Town

Summary

The video script discusses the use of mid-journey AI in designing a new urbanist town akin to Seaside Florida from the 1980s. The AI's results are described as both impressive and questionable, with the design featuring a mix of uses, detailed public spaces, and varied parking situations. The process involves multiple iterations, refining the AI's output by providing more specific parameters. The AI's potential is highlighted for generating ideas and concepts early in the design phase, but its readiness for final product creation is questioned. The video concludes with the intention to further explore the AI's capabilities in understanding and applying new urbanist principles, including generating street sections and land use maps.

Takeaways

• 🏙️ The AI was used to design a new urbanist town similar to Seaside Florida from the 1980s.
• 🤖 Mid-journey AI's initial results were interesting, great, and questionable, showing a mix of uses and wonky street connections.
• 🚗 A prominent feature in the AI's designs was a massive stadium-sized parking situation.
• 🌳 The AI detailed public spaces and buildings well, showing a reference to real-life scenarios.
• 🔄 After unsatisfactory results, the model was run multiple times with more specific parameters.
• 🏢 The AI struggled with separating residential and commercial areas and incorporating water elements directly into the design.
• 🎨 The AI's iterations showed variations in roof colors and building configurations but lacked a clear town center.
• 🚶‍♂️ The AI eventually produced a more organized plan with a central square and walkable central district.
• 🏖️ The final AI-generated plan closely resembled the real-life Seaside, with a rectilinear pattern and well-organized buildings.
• 💡 AI's potential lies in generating numerous ideas at the initial phase of a project, serving as inspiration for further development.
• 🔍 The user's ongoing exploration aims to test if AI can understand and apply new urbanism principles and potentially write code in the future.

Q & A

What is the main objective of using mid-journey AI in the context of the transcript?

The main objective is to utilize mid-journey AI to help design a new urbanist town similar to Seaside Florida from the 1980s, using it as a tool for generating ideas and concepts in the early phases of a project.

Where is the original Seaside located as mentioned in the transcript?

Seaside is located in the panhandle of Florida and is recognized as the original new urbanist town.

What were the initial impressions of the AI-generated results for the new urbanist town design?

The initial results were interesting, great, and questionable at the same time, with a mix of uses and wonky connections between streets, but they referenced real-life scenarios and had an impressive level of detail.

How did the AI's design for public spaces and parking situations compare to the real-life Seaside?

The AI's design included a massive stadium-sized parking situation and detailed public spaces, but it lacked direct addressing of water until later iterations and the coastline disappeared in one model.

What adjustments were made when running the AI model again?

The adjustments included being more specific about the desired configuration of buildings and spaces, which resulted in a more organized town plan with a centered square and walkable central district.

What was the outcome of providing the AI with the actual plan of Seaside?

The AI produced a more rectilinear pattern with an organized structure, better pedestrian access, and a more realistic layout resembling the original Seaside plan.

What are the potential uses of the AI-generated designs in the early stages of a project?

The AI-generated designs can be used to generate numerous ideas, provide inspiration for further developments, and create a variety of concepts quickly to present to clients.

What limitations did the speaker notice about the AI's understanding of urban design?

The speaker noticed that it was unclear whether the AI could distinguish between different building uses, understand public space versus streets, or recognize ground versus ocean.

What future possibilities does the speaker envision for the AI in terms of new urbanism?

The speaker is hopeful that in the future, the AI can be fed parameters and code to generate more accurate and realistic designs that align with new urbanist principles, and potentially write code for such projects.

What are the next steps in the Seaside AI design experiment?

The next steps include generating street sections, aerial renderings, and various types of drawings needed to build a new town using the principles of new urbanism, to further test the AI's understanding and capabilities.

How does the speaker describe the role of past work in inspiring the AI?

The speaker suggests using past work as a basis to inspire the machine to create more reasonable and realistic designs that are true to the intentions of the project, rather than generating nonsensical outputs.