Home designed by humanoid robot goes on display in Denmark
Aidan Meller and his AI-powered creation Ai-Da are exhibiting what they believe to be the first building concept designed by a humanoid robot, currently on display at Denmark's Utzon Center.
Completed in 2019, Ai-Da is an artificial intelligence-driven machine with a realistic human-like face, a robot arm used for drawing and moving cameras for eyes that enable it to "see".
The robot artist, whose body of work has been displayed at London's V&A Museum, the Venice Biennale and the Great Pyramid of Giza, produced the new building concept for the Utzon Center exhibition I'm not a robot: Architecture and Design Between Human and Machine.
The building Ai-Da has imagined is a retro-futuristic pod house in the vein of Matti Suuronen's space-age Futuro House, with bulbous curves and giant porthole windows.
It was designed to support human and robot cohabitation and, according to Ai-Da, could be used on the moon or Mars as well as on Earth.
The robot's work on the house spans multiple mediums, including a rough pen sketch and detailed paintings produced using her robot arm, as well as digital renders of the exterior and interior.
These seem to show a house that has two living rooms, a spiral staircase, a kitchenette or bathroom, and a miniature pod contained within the larger one, presumably for the robot to sleep in.
Meller is elusive about where the line between human prompting and AI agency lies within Ai-Da's work, saying on the project's website that, like many successful contemporary artists, Ai-Da has a team of "studio technicians".
"The postmodern critique reminds us that no-one exists in isolation," he told Dezeen.
But he added that the idea to design a building came from the Utzon Center, and that he and his team developed the brief through discussions with Ai-Da, deciding it should be "a building of the future" that considers "space exploration and co-living spaces for humans and humanoids".
On a technical level, Ai-Da uses generative AI to create ideas in a digital format and then sketches physically using more AI programmes and her robotic arm, according to Meller.
"Ai-Da has rising agency and is the creative drive," said Meller. "And she also responds to requests – she always has the majority creative influence as she is main artist and executer of her works."
"This models how human artists work – sometimes they use their influences from past interactions with other people or past experiences, or sometimes they take on commissions. Ai-Da is a meditation on 'the artist' or 'the designer', as well as a contemplation of the human condition as we increasingly incorporate AI into our lives."
Meller also recorded a video interview with Ai-Da, where the robot explains its intentions behind the design.
"For this exhibition, I have created my studio home, that exists as a virtual world," said Ai-Da. "It invites reflection on how humans and humanoids might work together positively to shape the future of living."
When asked about why it is interested in architecture, Ai-Da answered that "architecture feels like the natural extension of my purpose".
"My work has always been about the relationship between humans and technology, and architecture is where those relationships become lived experiences," the robot said. "Designing a home allows me to explore how we shape the spaces that in turn shape us."
Ai-Da went on to say that it was inspired by the organic forms and optimism of 1950s and 60s space-age design and that the modular housing unit could connect with other buildings through linking corridors.
The Utzon Center exhibition continues until 18 October 2026. Later in the year, Ai-Da's building designs will also be shown in London.
Humanoid robots were a big feature of this month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where several companies including LG showed versions tailored to domestic tasks.
However, AI use in architecture has so far been limited, with only eight per cent of American studios, mostly larger ones, saying they had implemented the technology into their processes as of early 2025.
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