Working on this assignment has completely changed how I look at my design workflow. Traditionally, my process has always been very hands-on—spending hours on architectural sketching, technical drafting, and translating ideas or photos into clean line drawings. But this AI workflow exercise pushed me to see how artificial intelligence can act as a rapid bridge between abstract theory and 3D architectural visualization.
Choosing to focus on a Mondrian Pavilion was a natural fit for me. I have spent a lot of time studying Piet Mondrian and the De Stijl movement, especially that fascinating transition from realism to pure abstraction. To capture that essence, I started the workflow with ChatGPT. It really helped me find the right words to articulate complex Neo-Plastic principles like spatial equilibrium, the balance of solid and void, and universal order without making the concept sound cluttered.
When it came to actually visualizing the pavilion, I used Gemini. As someone who usually drafts every elevation meticulously, prompting an AI to generate a full spatial experience with floating planes, structural frames, and primary colors was a huge shift. It gave me a realistic rendering almost instantly, which allowed me to quickly test if the strict geometry and asymmetric balance were actually working together in a physical, inhabitable space.
Of course, the process wasn’t completely seamless. When I needed to show the step-by-step evolution of my design—from the base 2D grid to the final 3D structural frame—I initially tried Leonardo AI. It just didn't give me the exact technical precision I wanted for my process diagrams. Switching back to Gemini gave me the clarity I needed to show how order transforms into an inhabitable frame. It felt much closer to the clean, controlled line sketches I usually aim for in my portfolio work.
Finally, bringing it all together with Canva AI allowed me to maintain that same sense of visual harmony and discipline in the presentation layout itself.
Looking back, this experience taught me that AI doesn't replace the designer's core intent. You still need a fundamental understanding of architectural theory, proportion, and materiality to write a good prompt and judge the final output. But as a tool for rapid system thinking and process iteration, it is incredibly powerful. It allowed me to take the pure, abstract rules of De Stijl and translate them into a tangible architectural presentation much faster than I could have done through traditional drafting alone.