2023’s top10 artificial DESIGN projects FROM OUR READERS

While last year saw a paradigm shift in the realm of design with the emergence of artificial intelligence tools, 2023 saw artists and designers hone their crafts to present increasingly surreal and innovative creative concepts. Programs such as DALL·E, Midjourney, and ChatGPT have opened up new avenues for creative expression, with architects exploring how futuristic structures might enhance our built landscapes and artists posing otherworldly musings for joyful viewing. In the physical realm, designers have integrated modern technologies such as raspberry pi for quirky design products that evoke nostalgia. Read on as we continue our annual review of this year’s BIG stories and roundup our TOP 10 picks of artificial intelligence design projects featured on designboom in 2023.

PHYGITAL OBLIVION HOUSE INTERTWINES NATURE AND SCENIC VISTAS IN THE METAVERSE

image by nVisual studio

Stepping into the Web3 sphere, minD Design strikes a balance between architecture and nature, and reality and imagination with its Oblivion House. Transporting their characteristic structures defined by undulating lines and futuristic finishes into the digital realm, the phygital home cantilevers off a cliffside to overlook picturesque vistas of an ocean in Dom World Metaverse.

The structure demonstrates the impact of transparency by blending symbiotically with its engulfing natural context, inviting expansive glimpses of nature inside for a unique, holistic living experience rooted in fostering the well-being of its user.

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ORGANIC FREE-FORM TREE RESTAURANTS GROW AMID THE CITYSCAPE USING MIDJOURNEY

image courtesy of Rolando Cedeño de la Cruz

Drawing from the deep connections of architecture and nature that evoke ‘warmth, strength, home, love, life, and abundance’, designer Rolando Cedeño de la Cruz generates a Midjourney series of visualizations depicting organic structures, the ‘Tree Restaurants’. Through the means of artificial intelligence, the renderings illustrate an architectural language using geometric imitations of trees to form organic facades that wrap the glazed fronts of restaurants in a material that resembles wood. The nature-inspired design derives from the concept of the ‘Tree of Life’ being present in the collective unconscious in many cultures throughout history and reminisces of the abstract form of a forest.

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LIFE-LIKE, AI ROBOT DOG ‘LAIKA’ OFFERS PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT FOR SPACE TRAVELERS

In the intersection of space travel and robotics, Jihee Kim introduces Laika — a concept design for a life-like, AI robot pet that can interact with humans. Laika has been designed for upcoming space projects such as NASA’s Artemis and Moon to Mars missions set for 2025-2030, envisioned as the ultimate companion for space explorers as it caters to both their physical and emotional well-being while they are away from home. Unlike the aggressive robotic dogs currently available on the market, Jihee Kim has designed Laika with a friendly and organic finish that enables it to connect to its human counterpart on an emotional level when in use while monitoring their health conditions and assisting them in emergencies. Beyond space missions, this approachable design allows Laika to integrate into domestic contexts.

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KAVEH NAJAFIAN CONJURES ECO-SYSTEM OF AI-GENERATED MEGASHIPS ABANDONED AT SEA 

image courtesy of Kaveh Najafian

Exploring a distant realm where a peculiar breed of titans plies the seas, Kaveh Najafian takes on artificial intelligence to traverse the boundaries between the real and imagined. Portraits of the Wandering: The Megaship Diaries presents an ensemble of surreal vessels that have been rendered dockless due to rising sea levels in the near future, transforming into floating, closed eco-systems, each with its own distinct characteristics.

From futuristic innovation hubs, to soil-less vertical farms, these wandering megaships symbolize the evolving epoch of our future. Stripped of their home ports by rising tides, they embark on an endless voyage, embodying the indomitable spirit of humanity, our drive for progress, and the allure of unexplored horizons.

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MIDJOURNEY REINVENTS ANCIENT ZIGGURAT PYRAMID AS MODERN CULTURAL LANDMARKS 

image courtesy of Rolando Cedeño de la Cruz

Reinventing ancient architectural typology using artificial intelligence, Rolando Cedeño de la Cruz’s Midjourney-generated series gives new life to the monumental Mesopotamian Ziggurat as a modern art center. The renderings imagine an earth-toned exterior and sleek, light-infused interior of a giant pyramid-like form planted in a contemporary urban context. Integrated with an intricate fusion of winding hierarchical levels, mixed terraces lined with vegetation, and a distinct spatial dynamism, the forms are evocative of the centuries old structures that were used as shrines to worship the gods. Stepping inside the reimagined ziggurat, the modern interior is defined by an interplay of light, water mirrors, natural materiality, quadruple height corridors and labyrinthine passageways for a serene yet enigmatic cultural experience.

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MOMIT SAM YORK REIMAGINES QUIRKY RETRO HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS THROUGH THE LENS OF AI

image courtesy of Momit Sam York

Artist Momit Sam York continues his experimentation with new perspectives in creative expression with the use of modern technologies. Using AI design tool Midjourney, his recent renderings have given life to quirky and cute nostalgic household items that take cues from retro product design reimagined through the lens of artificial intelligence. From a playful bunny shaped blender to a gummy bear-inspired radio and cassette, York reinterprets familiar objects to create brand new designs that fuse nostalgia and innovation, and functionality and decorative aesthetics.

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SWEEPING AI-GENERATED SKATEPARKS EMERGE FROM THE ICONIC PARISIAN CITYSCAPE

image courtesy of ūti architectes 

Amid the dense urban fabric of Paris, ūti architectes unveils hidden skateparks sweeping across the cityscape using artificial intelligence design tool Midjourney. The series renders quiet urban pockets far from the hustle and bustle of the street life, where vast concrete skateparks emerge seamlessly as extensions of the city’s iconic architectural fabric. Extending its conceptions beyond the physical realm, the architectural office imagines a new, somewhat surreal dimension to Paris’ culture of skateboarding.

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HASSAN RAGAB’S AI-GENERATED SERIES QUESTIONS THE FUTURE OF ARCHITECTURE IN THE DIGITAL AGE

image courtesy of Hassan Ragab

Digital artist and computation designer Hassan Ragab undertakes a visual investigation between the old and new using Stable Diffusion 2 for his new AI-generated series, ‘The Cities we Build’. Envisioning a future where ‘novel’ contemporary architecture has stood the test of time, the renderings reveal mundane urban landscapes overtaken by surreal, colossal structures enlivening the streets with bold, undulating forms and splashes of vibrancy.

Through this, the designer explores notions of novelty, beauty, and functionality of architecture of the digital age, questioning whether the imaginative AI-generated speculations of today — favoring monumental form over function — would ever withstand. 

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ICARUS.STUDIO’S MIDJOURNEY-GENERATED SKATEPARK EMERGES FROM THE EXPANSES OF THE OCEAN

Posing a surreal vision of man’s interaction with its landscape, Icarus.studio’s conceptual project Waves merges architecture with the ocean. Using artificial intelligence program Midjourney, the creative studio unlocks innovative explorations of design, envisioning a world where the mundane elements of our urban fabric — skateparks — can take unexpected forms amid the expanses of the sea. The concrete ramps here emerge from the water as artificial waves, akin to a maritime skatepark, soaring and curving to offer skateboarders a fresh way to surf the coastline. ‘This metaphorical project not only delivers a unique experience for surfers but also bridges the gap between surfing culture and contemporary architecture,’ notes the design team.

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ARVIND SANJEEV’S AI-POWERED TYPEWRITER ENABLES INTERACTIVITY BETWEEN MAN AND MACHINE 

Following the exponential growth and overwhelming emergence of new AI products, Arvind Sanjeev creates an intervention that allows us to take a moment to reflect on this new creative relationship we are forming with machines. The Ghostwriter is a project that invites us to slow down our interactions and mindfully co-create with AI through a vintage typewriter’s tactile and physical form. Its calm, meditative interface removes all digital distractions and takes users on an emotional journey through paper and ink. By urging conscious, slowed down interactions with the machine, Sanjeev argues that this lets us become more deliberate with our prompts and pulls us to read each word one after the other, helping us understand the nuances profoundly.

The Ghostwriter is a transmuted iteration of a vintage Brother typewriter, which was reverse engineered and optimized to become powered by Open AI’s GPT-3 language model. Any prompt can be entered through the typewriter, and upon hitting the return key, an original response is generated from the AI. Inside is an Arduino that decodes the user’s prompts and shares it with a raspberry pi which queries the GPT-3 API.

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