Aotea Hut · Great Barrier Island

We gave GPT-6 Astra a house to work through.

An early experiment with AI and detailed drawings.

P08 S113: Floor assembly and fixing details. Preliminary drawing, not for construction.P08 S110: Floor framing and joint blocking. Preliminary drawing, not for construction.P08 S112: Floor panel layout and cutting geometry. Preliminary drawing, not for construction.

GPT-6 Astra is a new model, and it's pretty amazing to see how far it can get with a house.

By · Updated

I gave it the SketchUp model from our original Aotea study as a starting point and asked it to work through the detailed plans, from piles and floor framing to wall junctions and services.

By no means is this a good or finished set of construction drawings. There are mistakes and plenty left to resolve. But it shows the first early stages of what's possible, and that's exciting.

For architecture firms

Strengths

It helped develop plans, details and schedules together, giving us more to inspect and revise.

Weaknesses

Plausible drawings can still be wrong. Structural connections, products and site conditions remain unresolved.

Opportunities

Firms could use their own checked details and NZ references to draft options, with architects directing the work and reviewing each issue.

P08Early drawings

Here's where it got to.

The latest issue works through the floor framing, panel layout and fixings. Review exposed a clash beside the access hatch, which we corrected across the plans. It is still a working draft.

P08 S110: Floor framing and joint blocking. Proposed drawing for review, not for construction.
S110Floor framing and joint blocking
P08 S112: Floor panel layout and cutting geometry. Proposed drawing for review, not for construction.
S112Floor panel layout and cutting geometry
P08 S113: Floor assembly and fixing details. Proposed drawing for review, not for construction.
S113Floor assembly and fixing details

Take a look through the drawings.

Not for construction or council submission. Independent design and engineering review are still needed. The saved SketchUp model has not been updated to match these drawings.

Download the drawings P08 · PDF · 50 A2 sheets

Original article · Original field notes · Original SketchUp model · About GPT-6 Astra