Will AI enhance the design process?

Through Industry Voices, Trimble SketchUp partners with industry leaders to explore the shifts shaping the future of architecture and design. Here, architect, writer, and lecturer Shawn Adams presents a three-part series on digital transformation. Each standalone entry dives into a key pillar of modern practice—AI & Productivity, Digital Collaboration, and Visualization.

In this edition, architect, writer, and lecturer Shawn Adams shares his perspective on how AI can support design productivity—bringing together insight and reflection from leading voices across the industry. Follow the links at the end of each article to explore each part of the series.

Historically, hyper-polished visual presentations were a luxury brand separator exclusive to heavily resourced architecture firms. Today, instant rendering technology places that exact same graphical power into the hands of boutique operations and independent visual thinkers.

In the second installment of his Industry Voices analysis, Shawn Adams uncovers a complex professional shift: as the barrier to visual execution drops, text prompt curation, intellectual rigor, and honest structural clarity become the ultimate differentiators.

Has AI levelled the visualisation playing field?

‘The value of a visual hasn’t diminished. If anything, it’s become even more valuable,’ says Head of Product Marketing, Trimble Architecture & Design, Sumele Adelana.

For years, high-quality architectural visualisations were a competitive advantage reserved for the large design studios. Big practices could afford specialist teams, powerful hardware, and long production timelines. Meanwhile, smaller studios with strong concepts, often struggled to achieve the same level of polish in competitions and client pitches.

However, that imbalance is rapidly shifting. Studios without dedicated visualisation teams can now produce images comparable to those created by larger firms thanks to AI-driven software.

These tools can generate compelling renders in minutes, dramatically reducing the time and cost traditionally associated with high-end imagery. Materials can be swapped instantly, lighting recalculated on the fly, and multiple design directions explored without rebuilding models from scratch.

In design competitions, AI is narrowing the gap between practices with extensive resources and those with far fewer. On the surface, this appears to be a form of democratisation.

But has AI truly levelled the playing field, or has it simply raised expectations for everyone?

This shift introduces a new kind of pressure. Rather than equalising opportunities, AI may be elevating the minimum standard of visual output across the design industry.

Practices that once relied on strong drawings or clear diagrams may now feel compelled to produce a constant stream of polished imagery just to remain competitive. What was once a differentiator risks becoming an expectation.

As expectations rise, they are also reshaping how work is evaluated. Clients are becoming accustomed to high-quality imagery, and this familiarity is redefining what is considered ‘good’ or acceptable.

At the same time, concerns are emerging about how highly polished visuals can influence decision-making. AI-generated renders can make early-stage ideas appear more resolved than they are.

Through lighting, entourage, and atmospheric effects, unresolved elements can be hidden, masking issues of scale, buildability, or spatial quality. Proposals may therefore appear convincing long before they have been fully developed.

However, as Adelana notes, ‘AI visuals cannot replace intellectual rigour. Buildability and constructability must remain the baseline of every design.’ Things still must stand up, both conceptually and structurally.

AI visualisation is also changing when imagery enters the design process. Traditionally, high-fidelity renders were produced later in a project, once key decisions around height, form, and materials had all been made. Now, AI tools are being used much earlier.

‘Visualisation has always been a tool for representing thoughts and ideas. It is now becoming less about final representation and more about shaping perception early,’ states Abdollahzadeh.

This change has fundamentally accelerated the pace of experimentation. Where designers once refined ideas gradually, AI now allows them to generate, test, and discard options in rapid succession. Architects can test massing options, façade patterns, and material palettes almost instantly.

Ideas that once took days to visualise can now be explored in minutes. Adelana sees this acceleration as one of AI’s significant contributions. ‘AI visualisation tools offer speed and efficiency. Used with the intent to curate, they help you bring what’s in your head to life much faster’.

The tools may be faster, and the playing field may indeed be more level, but the real advantage still lies where it always has: in the clarity of the idea behind the image.

As Adelana puts it, ‘In a sea of beautiful visuals, the challenge is how you stand out. How can you intelligently differentiate your practice using the tools at your disposal?’

When everyone can produce polished visuals, what matters more is how effectively those images express a clear idea, atmosphere, and point of view. The challenge is not just to use these tools, but to use them with intention.

Part of this shift lies in a skill not traditionally associated with visual practice: writing. ‘The task for us as designers will be getting better at writing prompts and learning how to express our thinking and design language through words’ states Adelana. The clearer the prompt, the stronger the output.

‘The most memorable images will be the ones that communicate a clear architectural intent, atmosphere, and point of view’ reinforces Abdollahzadeh. ‘It is now even more important for architects to judge what level of representation is appropriate at each stage, and to communicate that clearly and responsibly’.

While AI visualisation is levelling the playing field between smaller and larger design studios, it is no longer about how good the image looks but how intentionally they are used. In this context, the value of a visual has not diminished, if anything, it has intensified.

Not because of its quality, but because of its capacity to convey intent, narrative, and clarity. The question is no longer who can produce the most realistic image, but who can communicate something meaningful through it, and do so with precision, responsibility, and purpose.