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AI for architects: comparing design options
Short answer
When you choose AI for concept work in an architecture practice, check whether an option helps you discuss the client's requirements. An attractive image does not confirm dimensions, feasibility or compliance with the project's requirements. So the assessment covers how well the option follows the brief and how much work it takes to explain the option to the client.
- net for implementation for a team of up to 10 people, paid once
- from €1,150
- from start to work of the entire team
- 2 weeks
- after this time, we measure the effect on the same tasks
- 30 days
- conversation with an engineer and a written plan within 2 business days
- €0
We belong to the OpenAI and Anthropic partner programmes and learn through their official courses. What this means ↓
Author: Syntalith · 3 min read
Statistics
Architecture and AI: statistics 2026
0.9 mo.
payback of a €1,150 training day for 6 people saving 1.5 hours a week each: €1,360 of time recovered against €107 of licences a month. Scenario.
40%
According to a study published in Science (2023), ChatGPT cut the time 453 professionals spent on writing tasks by 40%.
Source: Noy and Zhang, Science (2023) ↗
25.1%
According to a Harvard Business School study (2023) of 758 consultants, tasks within the model's capabilities went 25.1% faster with AI.
37.9%
According to Eurostat (2025), 37.9% of EU companies in legal, accounting, consultancy, architecture and engineering activities used AI.
Source: Eurostat, AI by NACE activity (isoc_eb_ain2) (2025) ↗
48%
According to the European Commission (2026), 48% of small and medium-sized companies in the EU name a lack of expertise as a barrier to AI.
Source: European Commission, Flash Eurobarometer 578 (2026) ↗
Figures checked: 22 October 2026
According to a study in Science (2023), ChatGPT cut the time spent on professional writing tasks by 40%. In concept work, the time spent explaining an option to the client counts too. Anthropic describes starting with the simplest solution. Here that means one kind of option on one brief.
- What in the project may change and what is fixed
- Dimensions and requirements the option must respect
- The same brief for several attempts
- An explanation of the option for the client
The brief must say what may change
Write down the fixed elements and the areas open to options. In a fictional task, the client wants to compare finishing materials for a reception area and keep the existing entrance layout. An image that moves the door and enlarges the room no longer fits this task, even if the client likes it.
For each option, mark which features come from the brief and which are a proposal. If the scale has not been checked, do not present it as a measurement. The client should know which question they can answer by looking at the material.
Compare how consistently the tool keeps the requirements
Ask for a similar change on several materials cleared for use. Check whether the tool keeps the elements that must not change, and whether you can correct one part without losing the rest. Record the time needed to describe and correct the option.
Do not judge only the first striking result. Its use in a practice also depends on whether a colleague understands the history of changes and can go back to a chosen material. Agree on version names, sources and how concepts are marked.
Material for a conversation needs an explanation
| Question | What should be clear for each option |
|---|---|
| What are we comparing? | The material, colour, layout or another named element |
| What was kept? | The requirements the author actually checked |
| What remains open? | Assumptions that need further assessment |
| What is the next step? | A question for the client or the designer |
In the reception example, the conversation can be about how the client sees two materials. It is no approval of the construction design. Dimensions, structure, building services and compliance need the work of the right specialists, outside the comparison described here.
The designer's duties and the scope of checks are covered in the guide to AI and the designer's duties.
Choosing a tool and preparing the team
This guide proposes criteria. It gives no ranking of applications and reports no image generation test. Check the terms for using input materials and results for the specific product and for the project contracts. A completely fictional brief will do for the first trial.
Syntalith can agree team training on stating requirements, assessing the result and documenting corrections. It does not replace an architectural assessment. When the need is about text specifications, the guide to assessing AI for technical documentation is closer. Syntalith prices: an automation, app or agent from €3,000 net, training from €1,150 net a day (pricing).
For a conversation about the programme, bring a description of concept material that is hard to correct after the client's comments, and say what must stay consistent with the brief.
What it costs
- Time saved
- 6 people × 1.5 h a week × 4.33 = 39.0 h
- Value of that time
- €1,360
- Licences
- $120 (€107)
- Left after licences
- €1,253 a month
Payback of a €1,150 training day
0.9 months
The hours saved are the scenario's assumption, which we check by timing tasks before the training and after 30 days. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat. Claude Team seats at $20 per person a month, at the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026.
- The time of the task before the training and after 30 days
- The corrections made by the person checking the result
- Tasks where a participant still needs help
- Licences and tools cleared for work
Where to start
We run the workshop as part of team training, from €1,150 net a day. For the free review, a description of one task the team does every week and the tools it uses is enough. You receive the written training programme within 2 working days.
„I already use AI.”
Your people too. Just no rules.
From our conversations with companies
5 na 10 employees paste sensitive data into private AI accounts: contracts, invoices, customer data.
In ESET survey (2026)
1 na 10 admits this in the survey.
Customer data pasted into a private AI account without an data processing agreement is a violation of the GDPR.
Don't worry, we won't tell anyone :)
What do we see in companies that "already use"
- Only ChatGPT or Claude accounts, without plugins, skills, integrations and MCP servers with company tools.
- Company programs are not connected to AI. People still click through systems and Excel, and enter chat data manually.
- Lack of company standards: everyone writes instructions in their own way, no one shares what works.
- No rules for personal data, GDPR and company secrets.
- No limits and no visibility: no one knows who uses AI, how much and for what.
62% Polish employees use AI at work · 27% companies have written rules for working with AI.
Source: ESET and DAGMA, Cyberportrait of Polish business 2026 (March 2026, 1,026 people) ↗
ChatGPT or Claude space review
Accounts, permissions, rules for working with data and 5 tasks set for the team. 1 day.
€450 net
Company accounts, rules of working with data and team training in 2 weeks, from €1,150 net.View implementation for the team →
„Is my data safe?”
Yes. You choose where they go: from your company account to the model on your server.
00Employee's private account
Customer and company data ends up in an account that the company cannot see or control. There is no data processing agreement, so it is a violation of the GDPR. When an employee leaves, the chat history goes with them.
01ChatGPT or Claude corporate account
The provider does not use your data to train models. A copy of the queries remains in his logs for up to 30 days.
02API with zero retention (ZDR)
The provider processes the request and does not save anything. It requires his consent, we prepare the application together.
03Processing in the EU
Queries are counted and stored in Europe: OpenAI in the EU region, Claude via clouds with the EU region.
04Model at your place
The open model runs on your server or in your cloud in the EU. The data does not go outside the company.
What we do with every implementation
- Confidentiality agreement and data processing agreement before we receive any data.
- You choose the cases for the prototype and we anonymize them upon request.
- The data stays in the EU and we delete it after the test.
- Corporate accounts with an administrator on your side.
When data cannot leave the company
The open model runs on your server or in your cloud in the EU. To choose from:
- White-tailed eagle
- Polish model, SpeakLeash and ACK Cyfronet AGH
- PLLUM
- Polish model, HIVE consortium commissioned by the Ministry of Digitization
- Qwen
- Alibaba
- GLM
- Zhipu AI
- DeepSeek
- DeepSeek
We select a model for the task and check it on your cases. We run it, tune it and maintain it.
Source: Bielik and PLLuM, ACK Cyfronet AGH ↗ · PLLuM, Ministry of Digitization ↗
Do you have a lot of your own data? We will fine-tune the small model.
- 1 Your examples
- 2 tuning
- 3 test on new cases
- 4 model at your place
When you have thousands of similar emails, documents or reports, we teach a small open model based on your examples. It works for you, responds quickly and costs less to maintain than a large model. We measure quality on issues that the model has not seen while learning.
Przemysław and Piotr did it in large programming and consulting companies. Artem did it before and does it today at Syntalith. It's about models on your own infrastructure, tuning and quality measurement.
You choose the protection level during the interview. We sign the data processing agreement before we see any data.Schedule a free analysis →
Price
Three packages. You know the price right away.
Team of up to 10 people
from €1,150
net, paid once · 2 weeks
Company, from 11 to 40 people
from €2,300
net, paid once · 3–4 weeks
Organization, over 40 people
from €4,600
net, paid once · 6–8 weeks
- The same packages once you have licenses. To start, an inspection of the space in 1 day is enough: €450 net.
- You buy Claude Team licenses directly from Anthropic, without our markup: USD 20 per person per month for annual payment or USD 25 for monthly payment, from 2 to 150 people.
From conversation to measurement
01 · 30 min
Free process review€0
An engineer picks 3 to 5 of your team's tasks with you. Written plan within 2 working days.
02 · 2 weeks
Rolloutfrom €1,150
Accounts and roles, rules for working with data, training on your team's tasks. You buy licences directly from the provider.
03 · after 30 days
Measurementincluded
We compare task times before and after. We name in writing the tasks worth handing to a system.
or call+48 888 78 48 78WhatsAppMon–Fri 9:00–17:00 CET
Worked example · Scenario
How we count the payback: an architecture practice
We run the same count for your practice in the free review.
€2,618
a month for the work on 300 questions
EU cloud version payback: 1.4 mo.
Our assumptions are 15 minutes to find an earlier agreement in the documentation, and checking in 15% of the old time. €34.90 an hour is the EU average hourly labour cost for 2025 according to Eurostat, for companies with 10 or more employees. Model cost: Claude Sonnet 5.5, about 6,000 + 500 tokens per answer in the EU cloud version, at the ECB rate of 1.1205 USD per euro on 22 October 2026. We count the payback for an app with a model in the EU cloud (from €3,000 net). We price the model on your server after a call, and the cost of people's work stays the same.
See the full calculation →Questions
How do you choose AI for architectural concepts?
By how well the options follow the brief, how consistently the tool keeps the requirements, and how much work it takes to explain an option to the client. An attractive image alone does not tell you this.
Can you show an AI option to the client?
As material for a conversation, with an explanation of what is a concept and what still needs the designer to check dimensions and feasibility.
How much does this training cost?
At Syntalith, from €1,150 net for a workshop day for the team. Claude Team seats cost $20 per person a month. With 6 people and 1.5 hours a week each, the payback is 0.9 months.
