SENSE-AI Studio
SENSE–AI: Developing Spatial Experiences through Narrative, Senses, and Emotions with AI
ARCH 4001 studio. SAID, DAAP, UC.
Virtual Studio teaching environment. Fall, 2026.
This SENSE-AI design studio invites students to explore the complex relationship between architecture, human emotion, cultural heritage, and experiential design through the conceptualization and design of a new museum at Fort Ancient, part of the UNESCO-listed Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks. Using an AI-assisted design approach, students will explore how generative AI, computational analysis, digital heritage, and immersive technologies can support research, site interpretation, design ideation, visualization, and evaluation throughout the architectural design process. Students will investigate how spatial design can evoke, mediate, and communicate the histories, stories, and cultural significance of Fort Ancient—moving beyond functionality to create environments that resonate on psychological, sensory, and emotional levels. By integrating AI-assisted design with architecture, landscape, Indigenous cultural narratives, storytelling, and digital heritage, students will develop proposals for a museum that serves not only as a cultural and educational institution, but also as a place of reflection, empathy, discovery, and connection to the earthworks and surrounding landscape.
The studio examines how space can evoke memory, shape emotion, and deepen our understanding of history and culture. Students use AI-assisted design, Extended Reality (XR), and immersive visualization as design tools to explore ideas, test spatial experiences, and communicate narratives. Through digital modeling, virtual reality, and interactive media, they develop and evaluate architectural experiences that engage visitors on sensory, emotional, and cultural levels.
Working closely with the Fort Ancient team, students create museum proposals that tell the stories of Native American communities through research, design exploration, immersive prototyping, and narrative development. Building on the parallel research project Re-Story Fort Ancient and the 2025 SENSE studio, the 2026 studio emphasizes thoughtful design, interdisciplinary collaboration, and emerging technologies as means of creating meaningful places that connect people with history, culture, and one another.
This studio is supported by the Gensler Award. Gensler is a global architecture, design, and planning firm. Founded in 1965, Gensler has built a team of 6,000 professionals who partner with clients in over 100 countries each year on projects that act as catalysts for growth. We are deeply grateful for Gensler’s support.
Site: Fort Ancient Earthworks, Hopewell UNESCO World Heritage Site, Ohio
Program: Museum
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