The Drowned World: An Architectural Speculation with AI Tools through the lens of JG Ballard

This project explores speculative architectural design through the integration of AI tools, narrative fiction, and hybrid representational methods. Taking inspiration from J.G. Ballard’s The Drowned World—a novel depicting a post-apocalyptic, submerged Earth—we use Ballard’s personal stories and fictional future cities as narrative frameworks to reimagine architectural possibilities. Leveraging MidJourney, an AI image generator, we began by generating speculative imagery that evokes the novel’s atmospheric and spatial qualities. This AI-driven process allowed for unexpected formal and textural outcomes, expanding the limits of traditional architectural imagination.

Building upon these AI-generated images, we turned to CJ Lim’s work Virtually Venice and London in 2.5 Dimensions as methodological precedents. Inspired by Lim’s fusion of architectural drawing and physical modeling, we transformed the 2D MidJourney outputs into intricate 2.5D physical models, translating speculative visualizations into tangible spatial compositions. This process involved layering, recomposing, and materializing digital images to test spatial hierarchies and narrative-driven spatial making.

The project methodology highlights a unique intersection of technology, fiction, and craftsmanship. AI tools serve as a generative medium for ideation, while physical modeling and drawing recomposition reintroduce authorship, craftsmanship and critical interpretation into the design process. By combining speculative fiction, generative AI, and hybrid representational techniques.

The Drowned World project provides a case study in alternative approaches to architectural design and pedagogy. It proposes new ways of engaging with AI as both a creative collaborator and a tool for spatial storytelling, expanding architectural methodologies in the era of digital imagination.