Rethinking architectural design education and practice with AI: a cognitive–social–technical perspective

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping building design education and practice, yet its role remains contested. This study examines how AI is being applied across design stages and how its integration can be understood as a holistic and dynamic phenomenon. Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews with professionals, academics, and students in Australia, a mixed-method analysis was conducted. Frequency analysis reveals that AI is most often used in early phases of design, including ideation, concept development, and visualisation, with more limited uptake in communication, documentation, and regulatory tasks. Hybrid content–thematic analysis highlights how participants conceptualise AI in multiple ways: as a material that expands representational resources, as a creativity support tool that accelerates iteration and enhances productivity, and as a collaborator that reconfigures authorship, decision-making, and team dynamics. These roles are not fixed but shift across contexts, underscoring the hybrid and dynamic character of human–AI design processes. The findings further demonstrate how AI reshapes cognitive processes of reflection and problem-solving, mediates social dynamics of collaboration and culture, and interacts with technical systems of task allocation and integration. Two emergent themes, (i) active learning and (ii) sustainable and ethical practice, point to AI’s potential for transforming pedagogy and contributing to global challenges. By extending sociotechnical perspectives into a Cognitive–Social–Technical (C–S–T) framework, the study advances theoretical, pedagogical, and empirical insights into AI’s evolving role as a collaborator in architectural design education and practice.