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The Performative AI Lab LED screen displays a slideshow of student work Aug. 24 in the CAPPA Building. The screen is roughly 29 \u00bd feet wide and 6 \u00bd feet tall.<\/p>\n
Photo by Maricela Gonzales<\/a><\/p>\n Architecture graduate student Melisa Ayala couldn\u2019t hold back her excitement about the new Performative AI Lab, a new lab integrating architectural design, artificial intelligence and robotics in the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs. <\/p>\n \u201cI remember those sci-fi movies in the future where it\u2019s not really possible until 50 years ahead,\u201d Ayala said. \u201cWhen it\u2019s just happening right now, it\u2019s just incredible.\u201d <\/p>\n On Aug. 17, students were able to step into an era of innovation for UTA with the first class that was held in the lab. <\/p>\n The lab houses an LED screen, roughly 29 \u00bd feet long and 6 \u00bd feet tall, on which students will show models of their designs. These models will be made with multiple types of AI and will be used in place of posters to exhibit their projects, according to previous Shorthorn reporting. <\/p>\n Shermeen Yousif, director of the lab, said she hopes the screen will allow students to view their creations in a more immersive way. <\/p>\n \u201cYou can see the 3D of the building. You can enter the building,\u201d she said in a July 22 interview. \u201cYou can have this immersive environment, and that\u2019s hard to communicate in a still image, in a poster.\u201d <\/p>\n The lab also includes a robotic arm with an interchangeable tip that allows it to grab, scan or print items on six different axes, according to previous Shorthorn reporting. <\/p>\n \u201cYou can mount some other end effectors, which means you open possibility for different interdisciplinary research to happen, and you can always reflect that in a bigger screen, and then you have this visualization process,\u201d Yousif said. <\/p>\n Pairing the robotic arm with the LED screen will allow students to further explore architectural models made with AI, she said. <\/p>\n David Franco, director of the School of Architecture, said he wanted the space to be visible and welcoming for students and professors, so the lab is in the heart of the CAPPA Building. <\/p>\n Architecture graduate student Alfredo Trejo smiles at a device in the Performative AI Lab on Aug. 26 in the CAPPA Building. Trejo said the lab\u2019s robotic arm will eventually have a camera to scan models.<\/p>\n Photo by General Mason Starks<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s meant to be really a resource for all the college and all the school,\u201d Franco said. <\/p>\n Yousif described her own excitement as overwhelming. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m unable to sleep as much because I\u2019m too excited,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is the happiest week.\u201d <\/p>\n Yousif ensures her students input only their own information or cite any outside inspiration for their designs, according to previous Shorthorn reporting. <\/p>\n Architecture graduate student Katherine Isakson said Yousif makes sure her students are given the right tools to ethically use AI in their designs. <\/p>\n \u201cShe really advocates for a designer\u2019s agency and having some control and authorship over what you\u2019re creating and how those tools can support it,\u201d Isakson said. <\/p>\n Franco said he viewed AI as a tool that users should be careful while using. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is so new and is moving so fast that we really need to be careful on how to integrate it to our intellect and our way of thinking about architecture,\u201d Franco said. <\/p>\n A robotic arm stands inside the Performative AI Lab on Aug. 26 in the CAPPA Building. The arm has an interchangeable tip, which will allow it to grab, scan or print items on six different axes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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