WSP's Diego Padilla Phillips: Is AI the Key to Truly Innovative Design?

Exponential Change is Outpacing Human Adaptation: Is There a Way to Catch Up?

What if the way we design buildings is fundamentally limiting our ability to innovate? What if the linear, decision-by-decision process we have followed for centuries is preventing us from discovering truly groundbreaking solutions?

In a recent conversation on the Project Flux podcast, we had the pleasure of speaking with Diego Padilla Phillips, Director of Decarbonisation and Innovation for Building Structures at WSP.

His insights challenged our thinking and offered a compelling vision for the future of project delivery.

The Pace of Change is Different

Diego opened our conversation with a sobering observation: the pace of change in our industry is fundamentally different from anything we have experienced before.

Thirty years ago, the world of engineering and design was completely transformed, but it took thirty years to get there. It took nearly three generations of engineers to adapt to those changes. If change happens exponentially, that same transformation could now happen in just a few years.

How do we adapt? How do we respond to that as humans? These are the questions that occupy Diego's thinking constantly, and they should occupy ours as well.

A Skyscraper and a Shift in Perspective

The 70-Story Challenge

Diego's journey into the world of AI and computational design began in 2018 with a project of breathtaking complexity: a 70-story skyscraper in the Middle East. Each floor of this building was different, meaning every column had a unique inclination and size.

The team was faced with the daunting task of designing and constructing a building with 300 unique pieces of formwork. It was a project that pushed the boundaries of traditional design and engineering, and it was the catalyst for a profound shift in Diego's thinking.

Learning a New Language

Diego's journey into computational thinking began with a pivotal moment in 2018. He was designing a 70-story building in the Middle East where every floor was different, meaning every column had a different inclination and size. With 300 unique pieces of formwork required, the traditional approach would have been impossibly time-consuming.

As Diego describes it: "Node by node, step by step, it would have taken weeks. So we had to learn. We had to learn to use parametrics. We had to learn to programme some scripts to generate automated geometry."

This moment of necessity became a catalyst for profound transformation. The architect's vision was striking and beautiful, but realising it required a completely different way of thinking.

Diego reflects on that realisation: "For us, we couldn't speak that language. And it was a realisation that something had to be done differently." This experience planted a seed that would grow into a deep exploration of how technology could be used to break free from the constraints of conventional design processes.

It was the moment Diego realised that the way we have always done things might not be the only way, or even the best way.

The Ice Trade and the Illusion of Innovation

A Historical Lesson

Diego shared a powerful analogy that resonated deeply with us.

In the 1700s, a thriving industry was built around the transportation of ice from cold climates to the tropics. Innovation in this industry was focused on making the ships faster, the ice-cutting more efficient, and the storage more effective. Profits were substantial, and the industry evolved around these incremental improvements.

True innovation emerged with the invention of refrigeration, a breakthrough that transformed the entire industry. This single breakthrough rendered the entire ice trade obsolete.

The Refrigeration Moment

This, for Diego, is the key to understanding the opportunity that AI presents to the construction industry. For too long, we have been focused on incremental improvements, on making our existing processes faster and more efficient.

But what if, like the ice trade, we are on the verge of a paradigm shift that will render our current methods obsolete? What if AI is our refrigeration moment?

Diego puts it this way: real innovation means doing things completely differently, not just gradually better, faster, or quicker.

And in five or ten years, it is not impossible that the way we design and deliver projects will be completely different. This is an invitation to reimagine what is possible in the years ahead.

Breaking Free from the Linear Path

The Self-Reinforcing Cycle

According to Diego, the construction industry operates within a self-reinforcing cycle that constrains innovation. The way we design is dictated by how we build, which is in turn dictated by how we procure, which is dictated by how we fund.

Each step in this linear process reinforces the last, making it incredibly difficult to break out of the mould. We are, in effect, walking a narrow path, constrained by the decisions that have come before.

The barriers to innovation are formidable:

•High risk and low margins make experimentation difficult

•No one wants to be the first to try something different

•Unlike food delivery or taxis, construction has not seen major disruption because the profit incentives are not there

•Each decision creates a constraint for the next decision, narrowing our options

What AI Actually Enables

But AI, Diego argues, gives us the ability to see beyond this path. It allows us to analyse the entire spectrum of possible solutions, to explore options that we would never have considered within the confines of our traditional, linear workflow.

It is a tool that can augment our creativity and allow us to ask not just "how can we do this better?" but "how can this be done completely differently?"

Every building looks the way it does because of a series of decisions, each one creating a constraint for the next. We never see outside of those boundaries because we do not have the funds, the fees, the budget, or the time to explore them. But what AI allows us to do is analyse the whole spectrum for nothing.

Then we can think: actually, there is an answer here that could be the best solution, but we would have never arrived at that through traditional means. This is the real power of AI in our industry.

The Future is Human-Centred

Moving Up the Hierarchy

Diego believes that AI will free us from the drudgery of calculation and allow us to focus on what we do best: making decisions, analysing insights, and applying our uniquely human skills of creativity and critical thinking.

Diego describes a future where humans move higher up in the hierarchy of decision-making. We will move from doing calculations to analysing the insights and reviewing the logic.

As we move further up that hierarchy, the role becomes increasingly human. We will increasingly deal with human skills rather than numerical computation. We will be making qualitative judgements about which of many possible solutions best serves the brief, the client, and the wider world.

The Paradox of Convergence

But there is a paradox here, and one that Diego touches on in the full podcast. When everyone uses AI in a similar way, and when AI is trained on human data, there is a risk of convergence.

Everyone might arrive at similar solutions. True innovation requires human creativity, the ability to challenge the AI's suggestions, and the wisdom to know when to break from the consensus.

This tension between the power of AI to explore possibilities and the risk of homogenisation is something we must navigate carefully as a profession.

Why You Should Listen to the Full Episode

Our conversation with Diego was a powerful reminder that we are at a pivotal moment in the history of our industry. The transformation is here, and it is happening at an exponential rate.

To hear more of Diego's fascinating insights, including his thoughts on multi-objective optimisation, the evolving definition of an iconic building, the challenge of designing with living organisms like trees, and the practical application of AI in complex projects, we urge you to listen to the full Project Flux podcast episode.

It is a conversation that will inspire you to think differently about the future of design and construction, and to consider what your role might be in that future.

All content reflects our personal views and is not intended as professional advice or to represent any organisation.