A practical guide / Architects
How can architects use AI?
Yes. Start with brief-writing, design notes and decision logs. Give AI your meeting record and ask it to separate client needs, design options and open questions. Use the draft to prepare a clear next meeting with the client.
The workflow below is a plan for a small architecture practice. It includes a sample brief entry, reusable headings and a prompt for your next meeting. RIBA’s AI Report explores AI use in the profession; the official links below cover briefing and duties.
Use the brief promptCapture the brief, decisions and design changes.
Turn the meeting into a working brief
Begin with the client’s aims, site details and agreed budget basis. Ask for a draft grouped by users, spaces, priorities, constraints and open points. Add the meeting date beside each need to show where it came from.
More on this step
RIBA’s Plan of Work guidance places the project brief in Stage 1. It describes needs, milestones, project outcomes and quality aims. Use those topics to sort the conversation, then add the detail needed for this commission. For an extension, that might include how the family uses the kitchen, the preferred connection to the garden and what must stay usable during the work.
Read the source: RIBA: briefing and the Plan of Work
Keep options separate from client decisions
Create a decision list alongside the brief. Fields to use are reference, topic, options discussed, decision, person agreeing, date and affected drawing. Link each later change to the earlier entry so the discussion history stays visible.
More on this step
Ask AI to extract points to agree from minutes, then mark which ones need confirmation. Give the client a short list to respond to at the next meeting. For each confirmed change, record the instruction and ask the project architect to flag the drawings, consultants and programme items that need attention. Keep that impact note beside the instruction.
Use consistent design notes across the team
Choose headings for a weekly design note: current state, reason for the proposal, interfaces, open points and next step. Ask the assistant to recast your own notes under those headings. Keep drawing IDs and the language used for agreed needs.
More on this step
RIBA’s AI Report 2025 looks at adoption and expected developments in architecture. Try the drafting workflow in your practice. Start with a past meeting whose agreed brief is already available for review.
Read the source: RIBA: AI Report 2025
Worked example
A kitchen extension brief entry
Example with made-up details: a client meeting covers a rear extension. The notes say: “Six people at dinner; garden view matters; island possible; keep the side entrance.” Turn that into four linked entries in the draft brief.
Requirement B04: provide dining space for six with a view towards the garden. Option O02: investigate an island layout. Constraint C03: retain the side entrance. Open question Q05: confirm whether the island is a preference or a need. Record the meeting date and note against all four entries. This structure gives the next discussion clear points to settle. It also leaves room for the architect to explore another layout.
Illustrative example.
Meeting record
Separate aims, options and constraints.
Draft brief
Attach a reference to each requirement.
Design log
Record decisions and follow their effects.
Try a practical task
Draft a brief from your next meeting
Copy this prompt, then add a sample or approved meeting record and your usual brief headings.
Try this in your AI app
ChatGPT
Claude
Gemini
CodexUsing Gemini? The button copies the prompt. Paste it into the new chat.
Act as a project briefing assistant for an architecture practice. Convert the given client meeting notes into a draft project brief. Group the material under project aims, users and spaces, site constraints, budget basis, programme and open points.
For every entry, include its meeting date and note. Label it as a need, preference, option or open question. Keep uncertainty in the notes. Add a separate decision list using topic, agreed choice, person confirming and affected drawing ID.
Finish with five focused questions for the next client meeting. Explain which brief entry each question would resolve. Keep design suggestions in their own list for the project architect to consider.
Keep the architect responsible for the work
ARB’s Code sets expectations for competence, professional practice and communication. Keep design judgement, expert advice and the approval of issued work with the responsible architect. Review every draft need against the meeting record before asking the client to confirm it.
Use the practice’s approved account and data policy for client material. Establish permission before recording a meeting. For an initial exercise, replace names, addresses and price and contract details. Keep the draft brief within the commission’s agreed scope and appointment. Refer requests for extra services and questions about consent to the architect.
Read the source: ARB: Architects Code
Questions about this task
Which document should we try first?
Choose minutes from a recent briefing meeting. Produce a draft brief and a separate list of questions, then compare them with the brief the team agreed.
How should we handle a changed client preference?
Add a new change reference, link it to the earlier brief entry and record who confirmed it. Ask the project lead to assign the resulting work.