Diffusions in Architecture: Artificial Intelligence and Image Generators

Matias del Campo is a registered architect, designer, and educator. He is an Associate Professor at Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, director of AR2 IL – The Architecture and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at UoM, and an affiliate faculty member of Michigan Robotics and Data Science. Matias del Campo is the co-founder of the architecture practice SPAN. His previous publications include Neural Architecture - Design and Artificial Intelligence (ORO Editions 2022) and Sublime Bodies (co-authored with Sandra Manninger, Tongji Press 2017)Lev Manovich is a Presidential Professor at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, and the founder and director of the Cultural Analytics Lab. He is an artist, writer, and one of the most influential theorists of digital culture worldwide.

“One of the hopes I have with the book is to create a vehicle for thinking through the problem of architecture and Artificial Intelligence. Not limited to AI models that are based on diffusion algorithms, of course, but rather generally speaking. How do you develop a language around this novel tool? I don’t mean just the visual language. I mean also literally writing about it, thinking about it, conceptualizing it, and intellectually interrogating the problem.” – Matias del Campo From the interview with Zack Saunders at https://www.arch2o.com/interview-with-matias-del-campo/"Arch2O

• Acknowledgments xiContents xiiPreface xviLev ManovichPrologue xxivMatias del CampoSuppositions 1Rice or Pasta? Choose Your AI 2Mario CarpoTaxonomy 6Matias del CampoDiffusions 10Bart LootsmaThe Labors of AI 18Sandra ManningerAn Artificial Tale 28Ryan Vincent ManningResistance Is Fertile 38Joy KnoblauchOntology of Diffusion Models 44Matias del CampoTaxonomyCommorancies 55The Etiology of a New Collective Architecture 56Kory BiegNoise, Pixels, and Ancient Metamorphic Rocks 66Matias del CampoTimberpunk, Prompt Odyssey, Synthetic Ground, and Other Projects 78Soomeen Hahm and Hanjun KimComputation Past Forward 88Marco VanucciDiffusion Models 98Alicia Nahmad VazquezVestures 109Design as a Latent Condition 110Daniel BolojanAI, Architecture, and Art 120Niccolo CasasThe Advent of Trees in Architecture 13Daniel KöhlerFive Points of Architecture and AI 140Andrew KudlessDe-Coding Visual Cliches and Verbal Biases 15Sina Mostafavi and Asma MehanLight Architecture 160Rasa NavasaityteDriftwood Rock 170Igor PanticDigital Spoliare 180Dustin WhiteEstrangements 191Imago Mundi Imaginibus Mundi 192Cesare Battelli3D Diffusion or 3D Disfiguration? 202Immanuel KohRole Play 212Elena ManferdiniThe Doghouse 222Sandra ManningerDo Humans Dream of Furry Houses? 232Virginia San FratelloAllies in Exile 242Kyle SteinfeldAppendix 253Epilogue 254Matias del CampoGlossary 256Contributor Profiles 264References 268Bibliography 284Index 286Image Credits 290About the Author 323