AI agents in a design practice
For the people who run architecture and design offices. The short answer first, then the stages of a job, then where the limits are.
Pick one task that comes up on every job and that someone already checks, such as a tender compliance table or a set of meeting minutes. Write down how your office does it. Let an agent draft it on one live project, on a computer in the office, while the person who does it today checks every line. Carry on only if checking takes less time than doing it from scratch.
An AI agent is a language model that can open files, use software and work through a series of steps, then report back. It is not a chat window you paste text into. It works in your folders, with your tools, under rules you write down for it. It drafts and checks; a person decides, and professional responsibility stays where it was.
The stages of a typical job. In the UK they follow the RIBA Plan of Work; in Hong Kong the same steps lead to Buildings Department approval and the occupation permit. At each stage the agent drafts and checks, and the right-hand side stays with a person.
- 1Winning the workFee proposal or tender
Reads the tender or enquiry documents and lists every requirement, deadline and returnable form; drafts the compliance table.
Whether to bid, what to promise, the fee.
- 2Brief and feasibilityRIBA 0-1 · HK feasibility study
Collects site limits, areas and other figures from the brief, the survey and the drawings into a first schedule, each figure with its source.
Every figure and its statutory basis, before anyone relies on it.
- 3Concept and scheme designRIBA 2-3 · HK scheme design
Keeps the brief, the area schedule and the model in step; drafts option comparisons and a record of why each decision was made.
The design.
- 4ApprovalsUK planning and Building Regulations · HK building plans
Assembles the submission checklist, compares drawings with the regulation text it has been given, and drafts covering letters and replies to comments.
Every compliance judgement, and the signature on the submission.
- 5Technical design and tenderRIBA 4 · HK detailed design and tender
Checks drawings, specification and schedules against each other for contradictions, and keeps the tender query log.
The issue of every drawing.
- 6Construction to handoverRIBA 5-6 · HK construction to occupation permit
Keeps minutes, RFI logs and defect lists, so the handover information is written as the job goes.
What is accepted, what is certified, and what goes to the client.
The same few kinds of work come up at every stage. For each: what AI helps with, where the data runs out, and what a professional must still check.
| Work | What AI helps with | Where the data limits are | What a professional must still check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reading documents | Finds every requirement, date and form, and says which page it came from. | It knows only the documents it is given. Scans and pictures of text are read less reliably. | Anything it says is missing, and the pages it quotes. |
| Figures and schedules | Area, room and door schedules from the model or the drawings, each figure with its source. | A figure is only as good as the drawing behind it. It cannot measure what was never drawn. | Every figure someone will rely on, against its statutory basis. |
| Regulations | Compares a design with the regulation text you give it and lists where they seem to differ. | It does not know the current edition, local practice or an agreed waiver unless it is given them, and it can misread a clause. | Every compliance call. That judgement stays with the professional. |
| Drawings and models | Builds or updates a model from instructions, and finds clashes between drawings, specification and schedules. | It works from what is in the files. Design intent that lives only in someone's head is invisible to it. | The design, and every drawing before it is issued. |
| Writing | First drafts of minutes, letters and reports in the office's own format, in English or Chinese. | It can state something wrong with confidence, and it does not know what was agreed off the record. | Every sentence that goes to a client or an authority. |
| Client data | Works on the office's own folders, on a computer in the office. Files stay where they are. | The text it sends to a cloud AI model leaves the building, under that provider's terms. A model run on the office's own machine keeps it in. | Which model may be used on which project, decided before the agent touches client material. |
Further reading in the Journal: checking a tender pack for contradictions and AI-ready records.
If you run a practice and would like to talk through where to start in your office, email me.
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This page explains how agents work. It is not an offer of services.