With today's ubiquitous computing and urbanized cities, we produce and store vast amounts of data from diverse sources, including videos, images, text, and sensor readings. This information ranges from individual experiences to city-wide data. Making sense of such a volume and variety of data requires AI and computational tools to extract meaningful insights and support rapid, informed decision-making. This is precisely where architects and landscape architects can have a significant impact. Architectural training prepares students to synthesize complex, multi-layered information and communicate ideas across different scales and disciplines. Design thinking allows us to use AI not simply as a tool but as an instrument and an integral part of our creative and analytical processes. AI enhances our capabilities, enabling architects to create AI applications that classify, predict, and generate design outcomes based on large, complex datasets. Whether detecting changes in satellite imagery before and after a disaster, embedding carbon sequestration metrics into land-use planning tools, or creating structurally informed 3D forms from text prompts, AI becomes a natural extension of our approach to design. As architects and designers, we do more than respond to the built and natural environment—we interpret, simulate, and reimagine it. AI provides us new means to do so with greater intelligence, ethics, and scale. In recent years, the SHARE lab has aimed to digitally recreate physical environments using laser scanners, procedural modeling, and photogrammetry, ranging from the scale of a single room to an entire city. The lab is also developing interfaces that allow users to explore and analyze these spaces in augmented reality. Finally, we envision incorporating all AI applications developed at the SHARE Lab to enrich digital models with multiple data layers to create intelligent virtual replicas. These virtual replicas, intelligent environments, are compelling communication tools and powerful analytical platforms valuable in planning, designing, constructing, and managing built environments.

Recognizing this potential, at the SHARE Lab, we focus on preparing the next generation of designers to engage meaningfully with AI. Therefore, we developed an AI Graduate Certificate in Architecture to equip students with technical skills and theoretical frameworks to interact with emerging technologies critically. The certificate includes four courses: Fundamentals of Coding and Computation for Architects, which introduces programming and computational thinking; AI and Ethics in Architecture, grounded in the concept of double articulation, where students explore dualities such as data/information and landscape/territory while rethinking architectural curricula; Machine Learning for Architects, which presents contemporary algorithms and their applications in architectural practice; and the AI Design Studio, where students apply what they've learned in a comprehensive design project. Training architects for the future means teaching them how to use AI and preparing them to question, shape, and ethically guide its use in building more resilient, intelligent, and equitable environments.

To foster broader innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration, we organized two international conferences that reflect the dual role of AI in our field. Playing Models focuses on AI for creativity, exploring how artificial intelligence can inspire new design methodologies. Resilience in the Built Environment toward the SDGs emphasizes AI for social good, addressing pressing global issues such as climate change, disaster response, and social equity. These initiatives—across research, teaching, and public dialogue—aim to position architects not just as users of AI but as active contributors to shaping how this technology transforms the built environment for the better.

The SHARE Lab strategy has followed a phased approach: We leveraged internal funding during Years 1–2 to initiate research and develop pilot projects. In Years 3–5, we focused on building strong partnerships with industry leaders. By Years 5–7, we will begin applying for larger external grants with solid proof-of-concept and institutional backing. This strategic growth has enabled the SHARE Lab to turn early-stage ideas into scalable, impactful work. We have partnered with leading industry collaborators such as NVIDIA, Autodesk, SIEMENS, and IMERZA, bringing visionary projects to life through research, application, and public engagement.