Diffusions in Architecture: Artificial Intelligence and Image Generators
by Matias del Campo, Lev Manovich
Do Humans Dream of Furry Houses?
Virginia San Fratello
Furry Futures
There is an anecdote about the time Salvador Dalí gave Le Corbusier a tour of Gaudí’s buildings in Barcelona. Naturally, Le Corbusier disliked them and gave Dali an impromptu lecture on purism and his five points of a new architecture. Dalí listened patiently, then said, No. Architecture should be soft and hairy.
Chinchilla Villa
Hair and fur are soft and comforting. Hairy or furry skin is hard‐wired for petting and stroking sensations, creating intense pleasure when touched by both the receiver and the giver.
These artificial intelligence (AI)‐generated furry home images elicit feelings of intense domestic pleasure and security. They demand cuddling and inspire comfort, coziness, and contentment. Each image is generated using the AI bot in Midjourney. Most prompts include a description of the house, “furry black chinchilla villa” or “alpaca mansion,” in a landscape such as “the arctic tundra” or “Swiss alps” and a lighting scenario, such as “light halation, golden hour, soft lighting, glim lights, or volumetric lighting,” as a way of moving from the descriptive text to the demonstrative image.
These furry diffusion models for homes, on the other hand, also refer to a very traditional method of construction called thatch, which can be seen in the photo below of a Nordic eelgrass roof.
A Fuzzy ...