Promotion: San Francisco and London-based start-up Avoice has created an AI agent designed to run the entire operational side of an architecture studio.

While much of the focus on artificial intelligence (AI) in the architecture profession is aimed at image generation, Avoice was designed to reduce the administrative load behind running a studio.

Avoice's platform is structured into three AI-powered products – Avoice Delivery, Avoice Projects, and Avoice Practice – each designed to solve distinct problems for mid-sized architectural practices.

Avoice Delivery focuses on how the practice delivers projects. Here, the AI agent handles anything from specification writing to drawing reviews, which eliminates the need for drawing specs from scratch.

"AI does the heavy lifting while the architect stays in control," explained Avoice.

Avoice Projects assists with tasks, to-do lists, project schedules and team coordination. The company explained that compared to project management tools such as Monday or Asana, Avoice Projects is directly connected to the project's delivery, so when a spec changes or an issue is flagged, tasks and schedules update automatically.

Finally, Avoice Practice focuses on how a "practice operates as a business". Here, the AI agent assists with project finances, invoicing, timesheets and studio-wide reporting.

"The AI conversation in our industry starts and ends with image generation," said Avoice co-founder Chawin Asavasaetakul. "Meanwhile, the actual work of delivering buildings hasn't been touched."

"Every professional function has AI agents handling operational work end-to-end – except architecture," he continued.

The product aims to be a single platform that can improve the specifications, QA/QC coordination, construction administration, project finances, client management, email, accounting and operations.

According to its creators, it replaces numerous individual systems currently being used in architecture studios with one coherent, AI-powered platform.

"None of them [individual systems] talk to each other," said Asavasaetakul. "When a specification changes, someone has to manually update the schedule, check the drawings, notify the consultant, and revise the budget. With Avoice, AI agents handle that chain automatically."

This single platform replaces the numerous different software products currently being used, which are not compatible with each other, meaning that processes are streamlined, giving architects more time to design.

"Architecture firms run on a patchwork of tools that don't talk to each other," said Asavasaetakul.

"An email lives in Gmail, he continued. "The spec lives in one tool. The schedule lives in a spreadsheet. QA markups live in a PDF. The budget lives somewhere else. Every time something changes, someone has to manually stitch it all together. Our agents do that automatically because everything lives in one place."

According to its creators, AI has reduced the cost of developing software, meaning that it is now economically viable to use one piece of consolidated software. This will ultimately improve the efficiency of running an architecture studio.

Based in San Francisco, the startup is backed by the accelerator Y Combinator, known for supporting companies such as Airbnb and Dropbox.

To find out more about Avoice, visit the company's website.

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