VIRTUAL MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping architectural and spatial design studio pedagogies. We examine how AI is evolving from a technological tool to a co-creative agent unfolding aesthetics, authorship, and innovation through co-production. Drawing on studio experiments, this paper explores AI as an artificial collaborator in creative and pedagogical co-production. As Koyré observes, “not only are good experiments based upon theory, but even the means to perform them are nothing else than theory incarnate” (Koyré 227). We identify three layers: co-production among students, tutors, potential partners or clients, and sites as physical contexts. Mario Carpo considers design as emerging from shared decisions in which human intuition converges with algorithmic inference. The first layer examines AI’s role in analysing visual datasets, helping students distil site context and spatial narratives. Dialogue between human intuition and AI deepens knowledge and broadens students’ perspectives. The second layer explores generative AI as a catalyst for early ideation, enabling exploration of design typologies and forms. The dialogue between intuition, tutor feedback, and AI reflects on the co-generative design process, questioning AI’s role as a tool or instrument. The third layer addresses co-created design. Drawing on Maturana’s relational ontology, we ask how AI—though disembodied—might support relational and co-learning practices. As Maturana and Dávila note, “Virtual realities generate manipulations because the nervous system does not distinguish between illusion and perception” (Maturana and Dávila 33). Combining AI and human research, emotions, and intentions, students synthesised requirements, explored precedents, and generated virtual clients and co-designed project briefs.
Paula Craft-Pegg is an educator and practitioner specializing in integrated design and sustainability across architecture, landscape, and urban environments. She studied Architecture and Anthropology at the University of Florida and holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard. At the University of Portsmouth, she co-leads the MA/MArch Architecture & Landscape studios and serves as Programme Lead for Architecture. Paula has held leadership roles, including Head of School and Course Leader, and directs craft:pegg, a multidisciplinary architecture & landscape design practice.
Antonino Di Raimo, PhD, FEA, is Associate Professor in Architecture at the Portsmouth School of Architecture, where he is Associate Head of Research and Innovation. Previously he was Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Engineering at Polis University, Tirana, founding the Innovation Factory Unit, and curated the Albanian Pavilion at the XXI Triennale di Milano. He holds a PhD in Architectural Composition and Theory from Sapienza University of Rome. He authored books on François Roche and embodiment in architecture, and co-edited Informality Through Sustainability, contributing to the Italian Pavilion at the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale.
John Pegg is a Chartered Landscape Architect and Director of Craft:Pegg, with 25 years international experience in private practice, leading projects spanning landscape architecture, public art, and interiors. He has managed high-profile commissions, won major awards, and sits on several Design Review Panels. Alongside his professional work, John is a dedicated educator, teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the University of Portsmouth and other institutions, and leading the MA Architecture: Landscape and Urban Design course. His cross-disciplinary teaching and research reflects his commitment to bridging contemporary practice and design education.
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Thursday 25th June, 2026