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Engineering2 min read

AI works better when teams make decisions together

An AI design competition at Studio Gang showed how shared direction, individual exploration, and human judgment can work together across architecture and construction.

Architectural rendering of a group of translucent buildings surrounded by planted waterways, trees, and pedestrian bridges.

What happens when two architecture studios get access to AI tools and a deadline? A recent design competition across Studio Gang's Chicago and New York offices offered a useful look at how teams work together when ideas can be produced quickly.

Everyone had access to AI tools. Their approaches to collaboration, however, varied considerably.

Combine individual exploration with shared direction

Some teams explored independently and brought their concepts together near the end. Others agreed on a direction at each phase, explored individually, then regrouped to combine the strongest elements.

The teams that placed first and second balanced those approaches particularly well. They used AI to explore more possibilities while keeping collaboration and shared direction central to their process. The New York studio took first place.

Agreeing on a direction does not mean everyone needs to produce the same idea. It gives people a common basis for comparing their work and deciding which elements belong in the next iteration. Individual exploration becomes more useful when the team makes time to review it together.

Give collaboration the same attention as the tools

That observation applies across architecture, engineering, and construction. As AI accelerates the generation of ideas and analysis, teams need to be deliberate about how they evaluate and act on the results. In architecture, that means more iteration, collaboration, and human judgment behind each design decision.

In cost and project management, it means working from shared assumptions, discussing tradeoffs, and understanding how each decision affects the wider project. A revised design, estimate, or schedule needs a common basis for review so that everyone understands what changed and why.

AI can help a team explore more in the time available. Making good use of that capacity requires clear ways of working together, with human judgment guiding the decisions that shape the built environment.