Issue № 056/ The Volume Issue, AI, architecture & the new render pipeline/ New essay: What does AI build when architects are in charge?/ Tool of the week, Vista/ 26 Jul 2026/ Field notes from the practice/ Issue № 056/ The Volume Issue, AI, architecture & the new render pipeline/ New essay: What does AI build when architects are in charge?/ Tool of the week, Vista/ 26 Jul 2026/ Field notes from the practice/
Vol. 04 · Issue 056 The Volume Issue
26 Jul 2026 Updated weekly
● Field notes · Featured 6 min read

What does AI build when architects are in charge?

Six studios spent a week letting the models draft. What came back wasn't faster, it was louder. We went through every frame to find what's worth keeping, and the five prompts that changed how we work.

Featured Study
No. 042 / The Volume Issue
Prompt · 00:45 "A concrete reading room with a single north-facing window. Make the silence visible."
Rework · 02:13 "Six studios. Ninety renders. The models are loud, but not wrong about light."
Run time
00:45
Chapter 01 The 45-second brief
What this is

A publication for architects who design with the machine.

ArchiGen is a curated editorial platform for architects, archviz artists and design-forward studios figuring out where AI fits into the drawing set.

We test, we compare, we publish what's useful and put the rest down. Magazine on the cover, library underneath.

Tools we actually use

6 curated of 48 in the directory Enter the directory →
● Tool of the week v0.4.2
Render · img2img · text2img

Vista

The fastest way we've found to go from SketchUp massing to a publishable render. Architectural priors, exposed seed, and enough control not to feel like a slot machine.

Output · North-light · 03/12
Freemium · Pro $24/mo ★★★★★ 4.8 128 reviews
Realtime · img2img

Krea

Best for iterating in front of a client. Real-time canvas, weak at plans.

$10/mo ★★★★☆
Base model

Flux · dev

Our go-to base. Understands materials. Struggles with scale. Needs a LoRA.

Open · self-host ★★★★★
Concept · moodboard

Midjourney v7

Still the best at atmosphere. Worst at geometry. Use for the front of the book, not the set.

$30/mo ★★★★☆
Upscale · cleanup

Leonardo · Finish

Boring, fast, reliable. The last node in nine of our ten workflows.

$12/mo ★★★★☆
Sketch → render

Nvidia Canvas

Underrated for site-plan mood work. Pair with a trained checkpoint.

Free ★★★☆☆
Parametric · plugin

Rhino · GenAI

Grasshopper integration that actually respects tolerances. Ugly UI, good bones.

$18/mo ★★★★☆

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