Why AI is Forcing a Human Revolution in Construction Design: RIBA’s Survey 2025

Yoshi Soornack
1 day ago
4 min read

88% of architects believe AI will be vital to their business by 2035. But the most profound change won’t be in our software; it will be in ourselves.

A Ghost of Disruptions Past

For anyone in the architectural profession long enough to remember the transition from drawing boards to CAD, or from 2D drafting to Building Information Modelling (BIM), the current buzz around Artificial Intelligence feels eerily familiar. There is, as RIBA President Chris Williamson admits, a mixture of “excitement and trepidation” about a technology with the potential to “radically change the business of architecture” [1]. It’s a feeling of standing on the cusp of a monumental shift, a sense that the very foundations of the profession are about to be reshaped.

And they are. The latest Future Business of Architecture survey from RIBA confirms that this is not a passing trend. A huge 88% of architects expect AI to become increasingly important to their organisation’s business by 2035. The survey predicts a “transformational effect” on everything from concept design to on-site construction [1]. But the most fascinating insight from the report is not about what AI will do, but about what it will force us to do. The rise of the machine is, paradoxically, making our humanity more valuable than ever.

The Automation of Everything (Except What Matters)

The RIBA report suggests that many of the traditional tools and tasks that have defined the business of architecture are set to be surpassed by AI. Project management, marketing, even aspects of spatial coordination and manufacturing – architects believe these will be increasingly handled by their new AI colleagues [1]. This is the inevitable march of progress. AI is exceptionally good at processing vast amounts of data, optimising complex systems, and automating repetitive tasks. It can generate thousands of design options in the time it takes a human to sketch one, analyse environmental performance data in real-time, and manage the intricate logistics of a construction schedule with an efficiency we can only dream of.

But this automation of technical tasks does not signal the end of the architect. Instead, it clears the way for a redefinition of the architect’s role. As the mundane is automated, the exceptional becomes paramount. When the ‘how’ is handled by the machine, the ‘why’ becomes the architect’s exclusive domain.

As RIBA President Chris Williamson notes, both CAD and BIM “seemed equally radical at the time but instead of diminishing architects’ role and value, they enhanced it.” [1]

The Ascendance of the ‘Soft’ Skills

The most profound takeaway from the RIBA research is a beautiful paradox. As our tools become more artificially intelligent, we must become more authentically human. The report’s co-author, Helen Castle, found that architects don’t believe the rise of AI will lead to a demise in the demand for soft skills. In fact, they believe the opposite is true.

“Quite the reverse, in fact,” Castle says, “the ascendance of AI will lead to human relationships, communication skills, ethical decision-making and critical thinking taking on even greater significance for the future business of architecture.” [1]

This is the crux of the AI revolution for project delivery professionals. Your value in an AI-driven world will not be your ability to use the software; it will be your ability to listen to a client with empathy, to negotiate a complex stakeholder environment with emotional intelligence, to make a difficult ethical judgement, and to apply critical thinking to a problem that has no easy answer. These are the skills that cannot be coded. They are the skills that separate a good architect from a great one, and they are about to become the most sought-after commodities in the industry.

Becoming the Architect in the Machine

The future of architecture is not a dystopian vision of robots at drafting tables. It is a future where architects are freed from the drudgery of technical execution to focus on the higher-order tasks of strategy, creativity, and human connection. The AI is not the architect; it is the ultimate tool for the architect. It is the pencil, the scale rule, and the CAD station of the 21st century, all rolled into one incredibly powerful package.

But as with any powerful tool, its effectiveness depends entirely on the skill of the person wielding it. The challenge for every project delivery professional is to embrace this change, to learn the language of AI, and to simultaneously double down on the development of their own uniquely human skills. We must learn to collaborate with the machine, to guide it, to question it, and to use its immense power to create a built environment that is not just more efficient, but more beautiful, more sustainable, and more human.

The future is not about being replaced by the machine; it’s about becoming the indispensable human intelligence that guides it. Are you ready to make that leap? Subscribe to Project Flux and join us at the forefront of a more human-centric, AI-powered future for project delivery.