He said AI could assist architects with various variations, but human creativity was still optimal, and added that architecture had moved from commercial industrialised production to artistry in the time of AI.
Sir Adjaye, who is also the founder of Adjaye Associates, made the remarks while addressing a public lecture at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) last Thursday.

Organised by the College of Art and Built Environment, KNUST, the lecture, which brought together students, members of academia and industry players, was on the theme: “African futures: Architecture, identity and the power of cultural narratives.

He said, “In fact, real architecture will come from the artistry of artists because you won’t need an architect tocreate a design, as AI can do it easily. Architects need to think otherwise; they are not going to have jobs”.

He said AI was just a tool that had come to architects to improve their creative abilities, saying, “Architects are the best professionals to use AI to accelerate their creativity and improve their designs as well.

He said AI was a fantastic aid for those living in today’s world, but could not solve the conditions on the African continent, saying, “We have to marshal such a tool to make extraordinary architecture”.

National cathedral

Responding to a question on the cost of the controversial National Cathedral project, one of his architectural designs, he said that although architecture might appear expensive, the economic value it generated was immeasurable.

He mentioned that the project was born not only as a place of worship but also as a long-term economic and cultural investment capable of positioning Ghana as a religious tourism destination.
“The cathedral project has stoked a lot of controversy, but we do not think anybody has allowed us to explain what this project means to us as architects. One of the most enduring productive injections into a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is religious tourism,” he said.

The Provost, College of Art and Built Environment, Professor Christian Koranteng, threw a challenge to professionals in the industry that the college needed them to close the gap between academia and practice.

Additionally, he said the institution required their support to pilot indigenous materials, test and reshape the curriculum, and co-create studios that place Ghana’s problems at the centre of architectural solutions.

“Let us join hands to shape the Ghanaian built environment that we truly desire as a people”, he indicated.

The Pro Vice-Chancellor of KNUST, Professor David Asamoah, in an address, said the theme was both timely and intellectually provocative, as cities across the African continent were experiencing unprecedented growth and transformation.

“It requires us to ask whether Africa must continue to replicate inherited architectural paradigms or whether it’s a defining moment to develop new approaches rooted in our realities, histories, climate, material and cultural identities”, he stated.