You may already be interacting with AI every time you enter a building — through smart climate systems, occupancy sensors, predictive lighting or security platforms. The built environment — buildings, infrastructure, transportation systems and public spaces — is humanity's most immediate, tangible and large-scale point of encounter with artificial intelligence. Architects who understand this are not simply adapting to change. They are positioned to shape it.
The AI in Architecture Minor prepares students to work thoughtfully and critically at this intersection. AI is approached not as a replacement for human creativity, but as an extension of design intelligence — a collaborative partner that expands what is possible while keeping human values, imagination and ethical judgment at the center of every decision.
Students learn to integrate AI into their workflows with critical awareness: when to follow its outputs, when to question them and when to reject them entirely. The capacity to recognize when an algorithmically optimized design is technically efficient but architecturally wrong — emotionally empty, socially inequitable, or spatially incoherent — is itself a form of expertise this minor develops. Learning to say no to the machine is as important as learning to work with it.
This minor is not optional enrichment for the tech-curious. It is foundational literacy for every architect entering a profession that AI is already reshaping. The question is not whether AI will be part of architectural practice — it already is. The question is whether architects will engage it critically, imaginatively and responsibly.
The AI in Architecture Minor is restricted to students enrolled in the ARCH BA and BS degree programs.
Guiding Principles
The Built Environment Is AI's Largest Frontier
Buildings, transportation systems, infrastructure and public spaces are where most people encounter AI in its most consequential forms — in smart systems that predict and respond to human behavior, in generative tools that propose design solutions, in data-driven analysis that shapes what gets built and where. Architects operate at this frontier whether they recognize it or not.
Ethics Before Tools
Before learning any platform, students grapple with foundational questions: Who benefits from this technology? What values are embedded in the algorithm? What does fairness look like in an AI-designed city? AI amplifies whatever you ask it to optimize for — making the quality of the question a moral as well as a technical matter.
AI as Extension, Not Replacement
Imagination — the capacity to envision what does not yet exist — is irreplaceably human. AI can test, iterate and visualize possibilities at scale and speed, but it cannot generate the originating creative leap. That remains the architect's essential contribution. The minor trains students to harness AI's capability while sustaining the primacy of their own design thinking.
Drawing, Representation, and Visual Thinking Remain Central
Sketching, diagramming and visual representation are not pre-digital habits to be discarded. They are fundamental cognitive tools — the means by which architects think through form, space and context. AI tools should deepen and enrich this practice, not bypass it. Students learn to move fluidly between hand, machine and imagination.
Critical Judgment Over Automated Output
Knowing when an AI output is wrong — when it is formally clever but spatially incoherent, technically optimized but humanly inadequate — is a distinct and rigorous form of expertise. Students develop the judgment to redirect, challenge and refuse AI outputs when design intelligence demands it.
Humanity Is Never Outsourced
Design decisions carry ethical weight. The social, environmental and experiential consequences of what architects make are not computable. Students learn that AI integration demands — rather than diminishes — the full engagement of human judgment, empathy and responsibility.
Curriculum
The minor unfolds across five required courses that move from foundational concepts through applied design practice. Students begin by understanding AI's relationship to the built environment and its ethical dimensions, then develop technical and representational fluency through applied studio and seminar work.
Sample Curriculum
| Course | Title | Credits | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARCH 230 | AI and the Built Environment | 3 | ||
| PHIL 211 | AI and Ethics | 3 | ||
| ARCH 418J | AI and Architecture | 3 | ||
| ARCH 418D | AI and Sustainability | 3 | ||
| ARCH 470 | Computer Applications in Architecture | 3 | ||
| Total | 15 |
Admissions
Eligibility
- Restricted to undergraduate students enrolled in the Architecture BA or BS degree programs.
- Students may apply before or after completing ARCH 230: AI and the Built Environment.
- Applications are reviewed and approved by the Director of the AI in Architecture Minor.
- Students must declare the minor at least one full academic year before graduation.
How to Apply
The application is intentionally reflective. We are looking for students who are genuinely curious about AI's role in architecture — not simply those with the most technical experience. Submit the following materials:
- Completed application form with Major Advisor signature
- Software expertise inventory — list tools you work with and your proficiency level in each
- Five Whys essay — one page, structured as five recursive "why" questions that take you from surface motivation to foundational belief about AI and architecture
- Portfolio: Two to three project samples with a brief reflection on how you see AI enriching or challenging that kind of thinking and making (10 page max).
Deadline
The application deadlines for the Artificial Intelligence in Architecture Minor are:
- Fall 2026: May 20, 2026
- Spring 2027: October 1, 2026
- Fall 2027: April 1, 2027
Contact
Hooman Koliji, Minor Director, Clinical Associate Professor: hkoliji@umd.edu
Kristen Stack, Director, Student Services: kjstack@umd.edu
Lena Redisch, Program Manager, Student Services: redisch1@umd.edu
Mohammad Gharipour, Professor & Director, Architecture Program: mgr@umd.edu
About the Program Director
Hooman Koliji
Clinical Associate Professor & Distinguished Innovation Fellow
Hooman Koliji brings to this minor a background that spans architectural education, design theory and technology entrepreneurship. His work sits at the intersection of imagination, representation and emerging technology — with a sustained interest in how digital tools can extend, rather than replace, the visual thinking and drawing practices that are foundational to architectural design. He has also worked in the technology industry and has practical experience building AI-integrated design systems in real-world commercial settings. He approaches AI not as a trend to be adopted, but as a set of possibilities to be understood critically, used wisely and refused when design judgment demands it.