AI for architecture students

AI can help you develop an idea, find references and prepare for a crit. But the idea has to be yours, and never take codes and regulations from it. Prompts for concept, images, research, the project and the history of architecture. As of 26 October 2026.

🛡️ Safety net: what AI doesn't do in architecture

How universities handle AI and what doesn't belong in it in general is on the university page. Here's what applies on top of that in architecture.

⚠️ Watch out for this

  • Codes and regulations never from AI. Building regulations change: in the Czech Republic, for example, a new Building Act has applied since 1 July 2024 and the decree on building requirements was amended from 1 July 2026. AI often mixes up old and new versions.
  • The idea has to be yours. The Czech Technical University treats AI in architectural concepts as a first tool for testing a direction, on the condition that the idea always comes from the student. Ask your studio tutor about the studio's rules.
  • An AI visualisation shows a mood, not a building. It may make no sense structurally or in its layout.
  • According to the Prague Municipal Court (2023), an image generated from a prompt alone is not a copyrighted work. Rules differ by country. If you put one in your work, say that it's from AI and which tool made it.

📚 Where to check

  • The building act and regulations in their current version in your country's official legislation database. In the Czech Republic that's e-Sbírka.
  • Standards: the national standards body lists which ones are valid. In the Czech Republic that's the list of ČSN standards. Full texts are often available through your school: technical universities often give students online access to standards, so ask in the library.
  • Documents about the plot (zoning plan, regulations) on the website of the municipality or region.
  • Reference buildings on the architect's website or in an architecture magazine.

🎨 Concept and images

AI asks and you decide. For images, ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok work well. More on how to write image prompts is in the guide AI images.

Developing my idea ClaudeChatGPTGemini
<brief>
[paste the studio brief]
</brief>

I'm designing [a family house on a sloping plot / a small library in a town centre]. My starting idea: [describe your idea].
Don't come up with the concept for me. Ask me 10 questions that will help me develop the idea: the site, the people, light, material, the route through the building, the relationship to the surroundings.
Once I've answered, suggest 3 directions my idea could be developed in. Each in one sentence and with one risk.
Moodboard ChatGPTGeminiGrok
Create a moodboard for the concept: [a timber building in a forest, silence, filtered light].
Six images in a 3 × 2 grid: materials ([larch, fair-faced concrete, linen]), light in the interior, a joint detail, the interior, the relationship to the terrain, the atmosphere at dusk.
Photorealistic, natural light, no people and no text in the image.
A visualisation from your own sketch ChatGPTGeminiGrok

Upload a photo of a sketch or a simple model. The result shows the mood; check the massing and proportions against the sketch.

Based on the attached sketch, make a concept visualisation: [a view from the street at dusk].
Keep the massing, proportions, window layout and roof pitch exactly as in the sketch. Don't add floors or new windows.
Change only the materials to [light concrete and wood], the light and the surroundings [trees, pavement].
No text or watermark in the image.

🔍 Research and site

AI will cut your search time, but check the buildings and documents. It can make up a building too.

Reference buildings ClaudeChatGPTGemini
I'm looking for reference buildings for [a small library with a reading room in a park]. I'm interested in [how they work with light and wood].
Suggest 8 buildings: name, architect or practice, location and year of completion, and in one sentence what to take from it for my design.
Only list buildings you know for sure exist. For each one, say how sure you are of the details. If you know fewer for sure, list fewer.
A site analysis checklist ClaudeChatGPT
I'm doing a site analysis for [a plot on the edge of a village, a south-facing slope, next to a road].
Put together a checklist for me:
1. What to find out on site: orientation, views, noise, greenery, surrounding buildings, how people move around.
2. What to find in the documents: zoning plan, regulations, utilities, ownership, nature and heritage protection, and where those documents can usually be found.
For each point, say why it matters for the design.
Only name the official documents, don't make up what's in them.

📐 Project and crits

Floor areas, regulations, the design report and preparing for your studio crit.

Brief schedule and floor areas ClaudeChatGPT
<brief>
[paste the schedule of accommodation from the brief: rooms and required areas]
</brief>

<my_design>
[paste the room areas from your design]
</my_design>

Make a table: room, required area, area in my design, difference.
Add up the areas and show the calculation so I can check it.
Point out rooms where I deviate from the brief by more than [10%], and relationships the brief asks for (such as the kitchen next to the dining room).
A regulation or standard from pasted text ClaudeChatGPTGemini
<regulation>
[paste the text of the provision from the official legislation database or the text of a standard you have access to]
</regulation>

I'm designing [a staircase in a family house]. Explain what the pasted text means for my design: which requirements apply to me, what I should measure in the design and how I'll check it.
Work only from the pasted text. Don't add figures from other regulations or standards from memory. If something isn't clear, tell me what to ask my studio tutor.
A mock crit ClaudeChatGPTGemini

AI reads drawings inaccurately. Describe the main ideas of the project in words.

<project>
[describe the project: brief, concept, layout, structure, materials; you can attach drawings]
</project>

You're a critic at a studio project review. Ask me 8 questions like the ones asked at a studio crit: concept, relationship to the site, how the building works, structure, materials, light.
Ask one at a time. After each of my answers, tell me whether it held up and what the panel would still want to hear.
Don't tell me how to redo the project. I want to defend it myself.
Checking the design report ClaudeChatGPT
<report>
[paste your design report]
</report>

Check my design report for a studio project: clarity, logical order, repetition and technical terms used wrongly.
Don't change the content or numbers. Only suggest better wording, each change separately, so I can see what you're changing.
Mark the claims that need to be backed up by a drawing or a calculation.
Portfolio text ClaudeChatGPTGrok
Project details: [name, location, brief, the concept in a few sentences, what's special about the project].
Write a portfolio text: 80–120 words in [my language] and the same content in English. Factual, without phrases like "unique" or "iconic".
Don't add anything that isn't in the details.

🏰 History of architecture

A quiz on styles and buildings you can run any time.

Recognising styles by their features ChatGPTClaudeGrok
Quiz me on the history of architecture, the topic [Gothic to Baroque in Central Europe].
Describe a building by its features (plan, vaulting, windows, decoration), but without its name. I'll guess the style and period. Then ask which specific building it is.
Only ask about buildings you know for sure. After 8 questions, tell me where I'm making mistakes.