ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, DO WE NEED IT?
Why it won’t be designing your home
AI is in the headlines everywhere. It’s writing essays, generating images, offering design suggestions. It’s natural for homeowners and professionals to wonder: will AI replace interior designers?
Here’s what we think. While AI is a useful tool, it will never replace the intuition and human connection that defines considered design and that we use every day in our studio. It can enhance our work, but it cannot be the work. Here’s why:
Council submissions: no shortcuts here
If you’ve ever dealt with a council submission and approval, you know how intricate and site-specific a submission is. From heritage restrictions to structural requirements, every project has unique considerations. AI can’t attend council meetings, respond to case officers, or interpret how shifting regulations apply to your exact block of land. This is the domain of trained professionals who understand local building codes and advocate for your project, in person when needed.
Site inspections: the value of human presence
Designing for your home is a ‘living’ process, and time on site is incredibly valuable to us as designers and the result we can achieve for you. Understanding the scale of a room, where the sunlight hits or how high a ceiling feels are all things we sense… e.g. as a human, present in your house. Robots? Nada.
Countless small design decisions are made during our documentation process using our memory from our time on site. And many more decisions get made in person, on site for things like lighting positioning, hardware placement on joinery, plumbing placements and tile set outs.
AI can’t walk through a home and sense the proportions, or discuss on site challenges and decisions with builders and trades. Human presence and intuition are irreplaceable here.
Client-led, personal decision making
Every client has their own requests: the artwork with sentimental value, the need for a layout that works for three children and future downsizing, a home gym with flexibility for different types of equipment…
These aren’t just ‘data points.’ They are choices, wants and futures. AI can suggest trends but it cannot truly listen, interpret, and advocate for you on the topics you really care about the way an interior designer does.
The details that matter the most
The heart of design lives in the details: the tactile handle of a door lever, the warmth of timber against a particular wall colour, the way a room flows as you move through it. Of course AI can suggest generic solutions, but it cannot feel, touch, or refine those details in collaboration with trades, suppliers, and (most importantly) you the client.
Where AI can help
That said, AI isn’t the enemy. We use it to streamline repetitive tasks, give us quick visualisations, or generate broad inspiration to spark a concept a for a client’s project. We hope we can continue to use it to free up more time for the things that really matter: creativity, detail and working closely with our clients.
The heart in design
Your home is too personal, too layered and too valuable to be left to algorithms. That’s why interior designers will always have a central role: shaping homes that truly reflect who you are and how you live.
If you’re ready to begin a conversation about your own project with a designer who will do this for you, we’d love to connect with you and find out more about your project, requirements and how we can help:
