Virtual Design Spaces — What is it?

A platform for the
evolving relationship
between architecture & AI.

Explorations at the intersection of architecture and generative AI — with a theoretical focus on human experience and immersive design realities.

Where intelligent systems become collaborators in shaping new spatial paradigms.

New Article

Revisiting Modernism

Authored by Sophia Goehner — Read essay →

Projects & Prompt Exploration

Projects 01 — 09
Shielded Metal and Glass
Prompt Exercise

Shielded Metal and Glass

GPT: "Photo Realistic Image and Video Generator"

Prompt

A highly photorealistic architectural street scene set on a dense New York City corner, centered on a 5–6 story contemporary mid-rise building with a distinctly amorphous, sculptural form. The building's facade is composed of continuous, flowing horizontal bands that undulate smoothly across each level, creating a layered, wave-like effect. These bands are clad in matte brushed metal—dark titanium or anodized aluminum—with subtle panel seams and soft reflectivity that captures ambient city light without becoming mirror-like. Between each sculptural band are deeply recessed, continuous ribbon windows with curved glass, wrapping the perimeter of the building.

Sinusoidal Metal & Glass
Prompt Exercise

Sinusoidal Metal & Glass

GPT: "Photo Realistic Image and Video Generator"

Prompt

Ultra-realistic architectural scene of a dense Manhattan street featuring a 5–6 story amorphous building with thick, sculptural massing and smooth, blob-like deformations. The building has no sharp edges, instead flowing in continuous metallic ribbons that wrap around large curved glass panels. The façade is a seamless fusion of brushed stainless steel and reflective glazing, with soft highlights and subtle distortions of the surrounding city.

Shapely Metal & Glass
Prompt Exercise

Shapely Metal & Glass

GPT: "Photo Realistic Image and Video Generator"

Prompt

A highly realistic vertical architectural scene of a dense New York City block featuring a three-story amorphous building with thick, heavy, sculptural massing. The form is slightly asymmetrical with blob-like deformations—bulging, uneven curves that feel organic and imperfect rather than uniform.

Villa Savoy × Super Market 1
Typological Experiment

Villa Savoy × Super Market 1

GPT: "Photo Realistic Image and Video Generator"

Prompt

A modernist architectural building inspired by Villa Savoye fused with a contemporary supermarket typology, elevated on thin pilotis, floating rectangular white volume, horizontal ribbon windows wrapping entire façade, open ground-level parking and public plaza beneath, smooth white stucco and glass, minimal steel detailing, ramp promenade spiraling through the building, rooftop garden with organic curved walls and greenery.

Villa Savoy × Super Market 2
Typological Experiment

Villa Savoy × Super Market 2

GPT: "Architecture AI Auto" from chatgpt.com

Prompt

A highly detailed architectural visualization of a hybrid building that fuses the iconic modernist principles of Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye with the functional typology of a contemporary supermarket. The classical five points of modern architecture are reinterpreted at an infrastructural scale: a free plan organizes fluid retail circulation, while a free façade wraps the structure in smooth, white surfaces punctuated by continuous horizontal ribbon windows that reveal interior shopping activity.

Villa Savoy × Super Market 3
Typological Experiment

Villa Savoy × Super Market 3

GPT: "Photo Realistic Image and Video Generator"

Prompt

A modernist architectural building inspired by Villa Savoye fused with a contemporary supermarket typology, elevated on thin pilotis, floating rectangular white volume, horizontal ribbon windows wrapping entire façade, smooth white stucco and glass, minimal steel detailing, rooftop garden with organic curved walls and greenery.

Generative Study — NYC Street

Sculptural Concrete Meets Modern Glass

Variation 1

Sculptural Concrete Meets Modern Glass

Sinuous Urban Architecture on a Lively Street

Variation 2

Sinuous Urban Architecture on a Lively Street

Urban Farm in the City Landscape

Variation 3

Urban Farm in the City Landscape

Learn and see more — Generative AI by Sophia Goehner →

What are Super-Prompts?

“Super prompts” are highly optimized, detailed prompts designed to get the best possible output from a language model. Think of them as prompt engineering on steroids — they don’t just ask for something; they guide the model with clear instructions, context, structure, and constraints so the response is more accurate, relevant, and useful.

01 — Characteristics

  • Highly detailed: Include context, role, and objectives.
  • Structured instructions: Specify format, tone, length, style, or step-by-step reasoning.
  • Explicit constraints: Define what not to include or what must be prioritized.
  • Examples included: Sometimes show an example output to guide the model.
  • Role assignment: Ask the model to adopt a persona or expert role.

02 — Why They’re Effective

  • Reduce ambiguity, so the model doesn’t guess your intent.
  • Generate outputs closer to what a human expert would produce.
  • Save time because fewer iterations are needed to get a usable response.

03 — Basic vs Super

Basic Prompt

Write a blog post about urban gardening.

Super Prompt

“You are a professional horticulturist and experienced content writer. Write a 700-word blog post for beginner urban gardeners in the US. The tone should be friendly but informative, include three actionable tips, and explain benefits for both mental health and sustainability. Use subheadings and a short conclusion with a call to action. Avoid technical jargon.”

Article — August 28, 2019

From Mimesis
to Virtualization

Four representational methodologies for framing Art, Architecture and Visual Representation within the context of the “Real” and the Virtual. By Sophia Goehner.

Reflection

In my undergraduate studies I was highly interested in the Ideas and Processes of Mimesis, Simulation, Augmentation and Virtualization as they apply to an Artistic, Architectural (or Spatial) and Technological Context.

Mimesis
01 / 04

Mimesis

By Mimesis I mean the nearly “illusionistic”, (re)presentation of the visual appearance of a thing, or things. Mimesis, to me, is linked most closely to the process of describing the perceptual experience of the observed, through a highly personal or subjective filter — one which is re-produced through the use of an artistic or technological medium that simultaneously imitates and re-creates this experience.

Simulation
02 / 04

Simulation

By Simulation I mean a slightly different mechanism, whereby Art, and sometimes Technology, are used to (re)create the Objective perceptual experience of the Observer, as well as that which is being Observed, to evoke a “Real” or “Universal” affect on the perceiver. Simulation questions the reality of such representation — while often imitating the operation of a real-world process or system, over time.

Augmentation
03 / 04

Augmentation

Augmentation refers to an extension of perception, usually through enhancing and/or supplementing the perceptual experience of the objective world with additional information, often via a piece of Technology producing an added layer of information.

Virtualization
04 / 04

Virtualization

Virtualization, in my conception and application of the word, is the complete transformation of an event, thing, or experience of the “Real”, into a Metaphysical or Virtual event, thing, or experience, which may or may not include Mimetic, Simulative or Augmentative qualities or properties.

Vintage Projects

Archive 2000 — 2008
Project Zocalo© 2006
Holo Haus© 2007
Piano Wall© 2000
Tree Tower© 2001
Stairwell Projection Sequence© 2003
Agrotopic Sketches© 2008

Publications

© 2006
Holographic Space

Holographic Space

Holographic Technologies and their conceptual siblings (in Architecture) © 2006

Wood Construction of the Future

Wood Construction of the Future

An investigation in Hybrid Wooden Framing Systems © 2006

Hybrid Framing Systems

Hybrid Framing Systems

Companion plate © 2006

areas of focus

  • Generative AI01
  • Architecture02
  • Design03
  • Design Thinking04
  • Holography &
    Holographic Projection
    05
  • Augmented Reality06
  • Virtual Reality07
  • Simulation08
  • Projection09