Future Building: Making Buildings Better
The Future Building Initiative presents an exhibition, workshop and public forum as part of Melbourne Design Week.
Future Building: Making Buildings Better, a week-long exhibition of prototypes, digital tools, and material experiments from the Future Building Initiative. Together with a workshop and public forum, the programme explores how design can support the responsible industrialisation of construction—addressing the dual challenges of decarbonisation and building delivery through emerging AI-enabled workflows, Modern Methods of Construction, and systems-based design thinking
Workshop: 21 May 2026, 4pm – 5.30pm (limited spots)
Building C, Room C110, Level 1 (John White Room)
AI in Practice: Systems and Workflows for Future Architecture: This workshop examines how AI-enabled workflows are reshaping architectural practice through the interconnected lenses of product and process, computation and digital systems, and environmental performance. Drawing on research from the Future Building Initiative (FBI), the session positions AI not as a set of tools, but as a restructuring of how buildings are conceived, coordinated, and delivered.
Short provocations from FBI researchers introduce how AI is influencing decision-making across these domains, followed by a guided workshop where participants map and test shifts in their own project workflows. Working across the streams, participants will identify where automation, optimisation, and standardisation introduce new opportunities — and where they create new constraints, coordination challenges, and trade-offs.
The session is structured as formal CPD, combining targeted research input with active group-based reflection. It is intended for architects and built environment professionals seeking to critically engage with AI in practice, and to better position themselves within increasingly integrated and system-driven modes of delivery.
Public Forum: 21 May 2026, 6pm – 7.30pm followed by informal drinks
Building G, Room G1.04 Lecture Theatre
AI Workflows for Future Building Delivery: A public forum bringing together architects, developers, and researchers to explore how artificial intelligence and digital design workflows are reshaping the way buildings are conceived, manufactured, and delivered.
Drawing on findings from a live research study with Australian architecture firms, the session examines how AI-enabled workflows are transforming design decision-making and productivity — and how this opens new opportunities to streamline building delivery to improve quality and drive decarbonisation.
The format centres on a series of provocations from invited panellists, followed by an open discussion. The conversation will centre on how designers can position themselves as orchestrators of these new capabilities — maintaining human intelligence and design judgement at the centre of an increasingly automated chain.
More events at Melbourne Design Week:
Event Details
- Date:
- 18 May 2026 at 12:00 am – 23 May 2026 at 12:00 am
- Venue:
- Building G, Caulfield campus
- Register here:
- https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/future-building-making-buildings-better-tickets-1986049739233
- Categories:
- Architecture; Research: Future Building Initiative
Description
The Future Building Initiative presents an exhibition, workshop and public forum as part of Melbourne Design Week.
Future Building: Making Buildings Better, a week-long exhibition of prototypes, digital tools, and material experiments from the Future Building Initiative. Together with a workshop and public forum, the programme explores how design can support the responsible industrialisation of construction—addressing the dual challenges of decarbonisation and building delivery through emerging AI-enabled workflows, Modern Methods of Construction, and systems-based design thinking
Workshop: 21 May 2026, 4pm – 5.30pm (limited spots)
Building C, Room C110, Level 1 (John White Room)
AI in Practice: Systems and Workflows for Future Architecture: This workshop examines how AI-enabled workflows are reshaping architectural practice through the interconnected lenses of product and process, computation and digital systems, and environmental performance. Drawing on research from the Future Building Initiative (FBI), the session positions AI not as a set of tools, but as a restructuring of how buildings are conceived, coordinated, and delivered.
Short provocations from FBI researchers introduce how AI is influencing decision-making across these domains, followed by a guided workshop where participants map and test shifts in their own project workflows. Working across the streams, participants will identify where automation, optimisation, and standardisation introduce new opportunities — and where they create new constraints, coordination challenges, and trade-offs.
The session is structured as formal CPD, combining targeted research input with active group-based reflection. It is intended for architects and built environment professionals seeking to critically engage with AI in practice, and to better position themselves within increasingly integrated and system-driven modes of delivery.
Public Forum: 21 May 2026, 6pm – 7.30pm followed by informal drinks
Building G, Room G1.04 Lecture Theatre
AI Workflows for Future Building Delivery: A public forum bringing together architects, developers, and researchers to explore how artificial intelligence and digital design workflows are reshaping the way buildings are conceived, manufactured, and delivered.
Drawing on findings from a live research study with Australian architecture firms, the session examines how AI-enabled workflows are transforming design decision-making and productivity — and how this opens new opportunities to streamline building delivery to improve quality and drive decarbonisation.
The format centres on a series of provocations from invited panellists, followed by an open discussion. The conversation will centre on how designers can position themselves as orchestrators of these new capabilities — maintaining human intelligence and design judgement at the centre of an increasingly automated chain.
More events at Melbourne Design Week: