SDS X RIBA: AI in Practice Summit 2026

Artificial Intelligence is no longer an abstract promise - it is now an active partner in architectural practice. From generating design imagery to managing workflows and producing reports, AI is already reshaping the day-to-day reality of how architects work, decide, and design. Yet, this is only the beginning.

As AI collapses the cost of previously time-intensive activities, rendering, summarising, scheduling, writing, it challenges us to rethink the very structure of practice. Bureaucracy, planning, and procurement may soon be transformed, creating both disruption and opportunity. Architects now stand at a pivotal moment: will we allow our tools to redefine us, or will we help design the systems, ethics, and interfaces that shape a more human, creative, and equitable profession?

Led and curated by Tomas Millar of Millar + Howard Workshop and LivedIn, and Keir Regan-Alexander of Arka.Works and OmniChat, the AI in Practice Summit 2026 will bring together architects, designers, researchers, and provocateurs working at the frontier of this transformation.

Designed as a catalyst, not a conclusion, the event will blend keynote talks, live demonstrations, artistic reflections, and open discussion—placing equal weight on the technical rewiring of practice and the cultural reimagining of creativity.

Rewiring the Profession - New Tools, New Models
The morning sessions explore the practical, technical, and organisational transformations AI is driving across architecture. Rather than focusing on polished software, this segment will showcase grassroots experiments, emerging tools, and new business models that reveal how AI can reshape practice from the ground up.

Topics include:

• Experimental AI tools for design, planning, and delivery
• AI’s role in streamlining (or subverting) planning and bureaucracy
• Emerging service models in an AI-enabled economy
• Open-source and collaborative AI platforms
• AI for sustainability, performance, and resilience
• Beyond the chatbox: spatial, tactile, and immersive AI interfaces

The Soul in the Machine - Creative & Cultural Responses to AI
The afternoon shifts focus from process to practice culture. Architecture is more than production; it is meaning, authorship, and emotion. The afternoon session focuses on artistic, reflective, and speculative contributions that examine how AI is transforming creativity, authorship, and our relationship with making.

Themes include:

• Personal narratives of AI in design practice
• Visual and artistic responses to AI’s cultural impact
• Conceptual or experimental projects exploring AI as social commentary
• Reflections on intuition, authorship, bias, and materiality in the age of automation
• Possible provocations:
• How does AI alter the culture of the studio?
• Does automation free or constrain our creativity?
• Who authors a design co-created with AI?
• Can AI serve as a mirror for our biases, rather than merely a tool of efficiency?

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the day, you will be able :

• Understand how AI is reshaping architectural workflows, from concept to delivery.
• Explore emerging tools and experimental methods redefining the role of the architect.
• Evaluate the implications of AI for ethics, authorship, and creative identity.
• Discover new business models and collaborative approaches in an AI-enabled economy.
• Reflect on the cultural, emotional, and aesthetic dimensions of working with intelligent systems.
• Engage with peers to shape a shared vision for architecture’s AI-augmented future.