Non-Drawing Architectural Production Machines’ Embodiment & Similarities To Human Architectural Designers At Conceptual Design: A Taxonomy Through Case Studies

In the context of rapid advances in generative AI and Cyber-Physical Systems for different modes of architectural production, this paper provides the means of taxonomising architectural machines for conceptual design tasks in terms of their embodied features and similarities to human architectural designers. The paper identifies and qualitatively evaluates the sensorimotor systems and their features of a selection of non-drawing architectural production machines, then cross-analyses these factors against human architectural designers’ within their conceptual design tasks. The cross-evaluations are based on ‘modality’, ‘geometry’, ‘structure’, ‘material’, ‘scale’, ‘behaviour’ and ‘production outcome’ metrics. The work offers further insights into the overall capabilities of these machines through their embodiment, as well as the distance to achieving human-level, if not also human-like, architectural machines’ intellect. While the focus is set on the machines’ equivalence to conceptual architectural design tasks, the application of this study is extendible throughout the architectural discipline in its entirety.