Greg Cohen: In your own words, what do you create?

Carlos Bañón: Typically when I work, I create systems. I don't create just one off design. 

Do you begin with the end in mind, or do you let it evolve organically?

Sometimes I have a very clear vision of where I want to go, then I set everything to get there. I'm always open to deviate from my original direction.

How do you set up your environment or conditions to create?

What matters is the mental space. I try to create a certain storm. The storm is typically by putting myself to extreme conditions, either extreme short deadline or extreme pressure or extreme intensity.

What are your building blocks or the algorithms of your creative process?

I try to repeat or improve similar ideas constantly. But it's completely new because I'm applying a different method.

When you have your initial idea, how do you nurture it or coax it or cultivate it into a finished product?

I start thinking about that idea and develop something and let it rest for weeks. I look for that moment in which it gets almost unbearable. Then I'm able to crystallize my last thoughts.

If you have multiple ideas, what makes one idea more promising than another?

I let them rest. At some point, one comes stronger than the other.

Honing your craft is a nonlinear process. Sometimes you make leaps and bounds. To what events or practices would you attribute your greatest gains and skill?

Typically you match yourself with the top on AI or the top ones on fabrication. Then you really create a leap in your foundations. That is the competitive side of me.

I was watching other interviews you've done, and you have said, “We're not just following old rules anymore. We're making new ones.” So what are the new rules?

Typically in architecture, you are told to start with simple, abstract concepts. At some point they materialize into physical architecture. And now we can start with the last document, which typically is the final image, and then we just do reverse engineering to get there.

Can you think of a time that a constraint was beneficial to your creativity?

It could be a budget constraint and make the product very slim and clear, so you get rid of the fat. Constraints on timeline make the process more intense and faster.

What do you think that different creative fields have in common?

When the creation process happens, it unlocks you from thinking. I'm thinking less in a procedural way. Things are somehow developed mostly from the intuition, from not a very procedural way.

Who do you think of when I say most creative person?

The ones that are able to combine and synchronize different wavelengths, different fields, into one piece. The ones that are able to adjust to the different wavelengths around and to combine them into something that is orchestrated and works well.

Greg Cohen: We'll start with questions that relate to your projects and personality and habits. In your own words, what do you create?

Carlos Bañón: Typically when I work, I create systems. I don't create just one-off design.

What are you working on recently that you are excited about?

Creating fluid, dynamic architecture using AI.

When do you do your most creative work, and why do you think that is?

Mostly when I'm traveling. When would be always under pressure.

How much of your day are you actively engaged in your creative work?

Twenty-four seven.

How do you reconcile or integrate your digital interests with the classical education you received?

With new technologies like AI, but also 3D printing, parametric design, it's a way to expand. You connect the dots with the foundations and you're able to amplify those foundations.

When you create something from scratch, how do you start?

I don't know where, I know how, but I just start because the information is dissimilar. Any beginning is a good beginning.

Do you begin with the end in mind or do you let it evolve organically?

Sometimes I have a very clear vision of where I want to go and then I set everything to get there. I'm always open to deviate from my original direction.

And some people call it fertile soil or getting in the mood. How do you set up your environment or conditions to create?

Physical space, maybe it doesn't matter that much for me. What matters is the mental space. I try to create is a certain storm. The storm is typically by putting myself to extreme conditions, either like extreme short deadline or extreme pressure, or extreme intensity. I'm traveling in an extreme state of mind.

Moving on to questions of evolving the work. What are your building blocks or the algorithms of your creative process?

I try to maybe repeat or try to improve similar ideas constantly. But it's completely new because I'm applying a different method. The repetition or the constant iteration around similar ideas is something that I use to keep moving.

When you have your initial idea, how do you nurture it or coax it or cultivate it into a finished product?

I start thinking about that idea and develop something, and let it rest for weeks. I don't want touch it anymore. I don't want to even think about it. I just look for that moment in which it gets almost unbearable, then I'm able to crystallize my last thoughts. I work with very much intensity at the beginning. At some point, I let it rest, cool down and then I just make the last changes.

What percentage of your creative time is spent experimenting?

80%.

How much of your creative process is routine or habit, and how much of it is spontaneous or improvised?

70% improvising, 30% routine.

If you have multiple ideas, what makes one idea more promising than another?

I let them rest. At some point, one comes stronger than the other.

How do you know that the creative decisions you're making are correct?

Intuition informed by many decision-making points done over many years.

At what point in your creative process do you challenge your creative choices?

I think that happens many times a day.

Honing your craft is a nonlinear process. Sometimes you make leaps and bounds. To what events or practices would you attribute your greatest gains and skill?

When I teach, I need to break down my knowledge into something that someone else can understand. That helps me consolidate my findings. Typically you match yourself with the top on AI or the top ones on fabrication, then you really create a leap in your foundations. I would say that is the competitive side of me.

I was watching other interviews you've done, and you have said, “We're not just following old rules anymore. We're making new ones.” So what are the new rules?

Typically in architecture, you are told to start with a concept, with simple, abstract concepts. At some point they materialize into physical architecture. And now we can start with the last document, which typically is the final image, and then we just do reverse engineering to get there.

Similarly, how often does an AI prompt lead to something more inspirational than you are anticipating?

Exploring concepts without a brief, just for myself, it is actually very high. Let's say 70% minimum. When I'm working on something that needs to meet certain requirements, then maybe I get something unexpectedly wrong. 70%, really inspiring, 30% frustrating or not inspiring.

How do you know when you're done?

All the elements are somehow running by themselves and you are kind of letting the project have its own life. Let it settle somehow naturally.

What makes a successful creative project?

You develop something and it's not appreciated, and you need a few years, even decades, to be appreciated. What I typically look at is my internal satisfaction.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Experiencing spaces by algebra and algorithms.

What media, like books, blogs, magazines or podcasts, do you recommend?

I try to follow people that somehow produce good content more than going to a source that compiles that content.

Who, if anyone, is creating architecture that makes you think, “I wish I made that?”

Junya Ishigami and also Anton Garcia.

When and where do your lightning bolt ideas occur?

When I'm traveling, it happens more often. I just need to be out of the routines. Typically, it's overseas. Typically, it's by myself. It's not in a team. It's not in a conversation. It's more by myself.

How much of your creative process is solitary, and how much is collaboration with others?

95% solitary, 5% collaboration.

When you do collaborate with others, what is that like? How does that work?

I typically enjoy it less when I need to agree with certain kinds of decisions.

What role, if any, does feedback play in your creativity?

I need constant feedback from everyone I have around. From ChatGPT, I also try to get feedback.

For you, what is the hardest part of creation?

Sometimes what you are doing is not appreciated. Not many people know what's behind the scenes.

What stops your creative flow faster than anything?

Respect or appreciation or lack of empathy.

How do you make progress when you are blocked or feel like you're at a dead end?

I will try to tackle it from perpendicular direction. I'm very driven and competitive. I take it as a challenge. I will use ten times more energy.

How do you avoid ruts or preconceptions?

When I explain my designs, I'm very explicit on how I move from the preconceived idea to something else. I explain to them how we don't do the conventional approach in the designs.

Can you think of a time that a constraint was beneficial to your creativity?

It could be a budget constraint and make the product very slim and clear, so you get rid of the fat. Constraints on timeline make the process more intense and faster. Materials that cannot be used. Factual restrictions.

What is a telltale sign that it's time to abandon an idea?

When it feels forced.

What kind or type of work would you like to do that you haven't done yet?

Something related to video games. Creating some designs with movies. Where space creation, static styles are applied into cinematic ways.

What do you think that different creative fields have in common?

When the creation process happens, I think also it unlocks you from thinking. I'm thinking less in a procedural way. Things are somehow developed mostly from the intuition, from not a very procedural way.

What skill or technique from a different field would you like to bring into your own work?

Maybe even deeper understanding on fundamental programming concepts.

Who do you think of when I say most creative person?

The ones that are able to combine and synchronize different wavelengths, different fields, into one piece. The ones that are able to adjust to the different wavelengths around and to combine them into something that is orchestrated and works well.

How does your teaching influence your practice?

I need to break it down into prepared materials. I need to explain it to students, and that helps consolidate some of the findings.

What is your favorite work that you have done so far in your career?

I'm proud of my thesis project in architecture. It was the fight I put against my professors. It was a bit of exercise, developing new techniques of drawing, developing new idea of what I understood was architecture. It was a space for me to grow almost in solitude. From my recent work, the new AI designs. Especially the series I'm creating, The Villas.

Where can we find these Villas?

Daily XYZ.

Greg Cohen: We'll start with questions that relate to your projects and personality and habits. In your own words, what do you create?

Carlos Bañón: It depends on what I'm working, right? I would say, typically when I work, I create systems. So I don't create just one off design. So typically, I'm more interested in a systematic way of creation. So it's maybe materialized for maybe one purpose, but it's potentially a seed for more opportunities in the future. So I don't see creation as just one time creation for that particular purpose.

Okay. And what are you working on recently that you are excited about?

Well, I'm excited about creating fluid, dynamic architecture using AI.

And what is your signature or what distinguishes your work from everyone else's?

I would say, I think if I compare to others, mine stands out. I would say, because I strive to get a certain level of quality and elegance that if I don't get, I don't even present the design. So I think it's a certain kind of commitment to certain standards of design that I try to honor every time I do design. So maybe a bit of an obsession about this level of quality. It's not quality on how fine it looks or refinement. It's more about the design itself, the process, all the small details. I really pay attention to it.

And when do you do your most creative work, and why do you think that is?

Mostly when I'm traveling, when I'm away. When I get to leave something different, then it triggers something new in me, and then I am able to deliver. And also that's kind of the “where.” Right? So maybe when would be always under pressure.

How much of your day are you actively engaged in your creative work?

24/7. I would say even when I'm replying to an email, I'm thinking of something creative. So I try to reduce my time of these kind of mundane tasks to zero and try to keep my brain fully active, thinking of what's the next thing to do or what the current thing to do. I'm trying to keep myself busy with those thoughts all the time.

I like it. How do you reconcile or integrate your digital interests with the classical education you received?

That is a very relevant one, and I'm trying to answer that question almost every day. My understanding is the technology that we have right now allows us to do many more things than we did before, although fundamentals still remain. So I think if I'm able to deliver what I can deliver right now, it's because I still have the fundamentals from my early years in education in architecture and design. 

But now with new technologies, like even now AI, but also 3D printing, parametric design, it's a way to probably expand. It gives you something that before you didn't know that was possible. And now, because you know it's possible, you connect the dots with the foundations. And now you're able to amplify those foundations, because now you know that there's many other features you can implement by using technology. So it's a way to expand beyond, but always like having the roots on those foundations.

Okay. And then moving on to questions about process and specifically getting started: when you create something from scratch, how do you start?

Probably the answer would be, I just start. I don't know where, I know how, but I just start because the information is dissimilar. Sometimes you get just a few words. Sometimes you get the full brief. Sometimes you get different inputs. Right? So I would say for me, any beginning is a good beginning. 

And I try to create, always producing something. So I don't just sit down and reflect. I just try to take something out, whatever it is, and from there, because it's coming out from me, then I take it as the beginning and then I continue from there.

Do you begin with the end in mind or do you let it evolve organically?

Sometimes I have a very clear vision of where I want to go and then I set everything to get there. And it might deviate a bit, but I think most of the time I have something around where I want to get. Maybe it's not super clear, maybe it's blurred, but I'm not just walking aimlessly. I have a certain direction. So sometimes it's very precise, sometimes it's still broad. I'm always open to change, I'm always open to deviate from my original direction. But I'm driven to get somewhere always.

And some people call it fertile soil or getting in the mood. How do you set up your environment or conditions to create?

Okay, I would say physical space, maybe it doesn't matter that much for me. What matters is the mental space. And what I try to create is a certain storm. I try to build a storm always. And the storm is typically by putting myself to extreme conditions, either like extreme short deadline or extreme pressure, or extreme intensity. When I'm traveling in an extreme state of mind, I think that's the thing I'm always trying and aiming to get, then depends on the place. Could be finding that spot, that place that allows me to have that connection. 

But typically it's more mental space than physical space. I would say as long as I have my tools, my computer, my environment around is typically something I can carry on my laptop. I'm fine.

Which of your influences can you see reflected in your own work?

I have different sources. So my influences from my early years in computation, when I was like something between six and ten, all of this beginning of the video games and coding, I think is still very strong, like the simple 8 bits, like video games where resources were very little and then we tried to make the most of them. I think it's rooted in my thinking because I spent endless hours coding by myself at night when I was a kid. So I think maybe that sinks really into what I aim for, typically when I produce. 

Then from architecture, I would say I connect to the ones that bring certain kind of clarity, elegance. I think maybe I connect with the most, like, I don't know, maybe not the super deep thinkers, but let's say the ones that really are able to translate that into a very obvious, very elegant, physically done design. So I appreciate when it's converted into a tangible thing. So it's not so easy for me and not so easy to really make that translation of your concepts that I think there are many good thinkers around. But when it comes to translation to design, it's like not many. And then those are the ones that for me are more relevant.

Okay. And moving on to questions of evolving the work. What are your building blocks or the algorithms of your creative process?

Well, I think I work with a certain kind of obsession, a high level of obsession. I think I try to maybe repeat or try to improve similar ideas constantly. So sometimes I see my work coming back from ten years ago, and now it's like, “Oh, wow. I'm actually doing the same thing,” but it's completely new because I'm applying a different method, but maybe the same intuitions are there, same elements that I was playing before, but now I play in a different way. Right? But I can recognize many of those things. So I think the repetition or the constant iteration around similar ideas, I think is something that I use to keep moving.

When you have your initial idea, how do you nurture it or coax it or cultivate it into a finished product?

Sometimes they take very long to settle. So sometimes I start thinking about that idea and develop something and let it rest for weeks, maybe unconsciously. Just, I don't want touch it anymore. I don't want to even think about it. I kind of just deliver that because I'm not fully 100%, like, feeling it. 

So even when I have deadlines with clients, they ask me to design, let's say, certain spaces. Sometimes I just look for that moment in which it gets almost unbearable. Like they need it, and I somehow I need to take it back after a few weeks, and then I'm able to crystallize my last thoughts into that piece. 

I think typically I work with very much intensity at the beginning. At some point, I let it rest, cool down, and take it back very close to final delivery, and then I just make the last changes. Typically, those changes could be very strong because the deadline is there. So I just let it rest until the deadline is almost there, and then just make the last changes.

What percentage of your creative time is spent experimenting?

I would say, I don't know, 80%.

And how much of your creative process is routine or habit, and how much of it is spontaneous or improvised?

Well, I think if it's routine, I keep improvising. So if it's like, then I would say 70% improvising, 30% routine.

Okay. And if you have multiple ideas, what makes one idea more promising than another?

Well, then probably I just let it settle down. So maybe what makes it more clear to me is a bit more time. So I have them, I let them rest. At some point, one comes stronger than the other, and then I just go for that one.

How do you know that the creative decisions you're making are correct?

I think maybe I would call it intuition, but I would say that intuition is maybe informed by many decision-making points that I've done over many years. So I think it's maybe big data, but it's maybe condensed into certain intuition.

At what point in your creative process do you challenge your creative choices?

At what point do I challenge? You mean that when I challenge my creative process, would you mean like to try to find something new or just to get kind of nuanced in the question?

As you're creating, when do you stop and say, am I doing the right thing? Or should I be doing something else?

I think that happens many times a day. That thought like, am I doing the right thing? I just maybe look somewhere else. So it happens multiple times. The thing is, when you start getting some certainty, maybe that happens, maybe at a different scale. So maybe even though you are questioning that, maybe you're talking about something that is not a major decision, but it's constantly a recurring thing over the design process.

And honing your craft is a nonlinear process. Sometimes you make leaps and bounds. To what events or practices would you attribute your greatest gains and skill?

When I improve my skills. Right? You mean when I really grow, I think I find different ways to do that. So I find that those are somehow necessary for me. So one hand is when I teach, I need to break down my knowledge into something that someone else can understand. So teaching and giving lectures, when I need to give a keynote or presentations on my work, then really helps me structure. And typically for that, I need to prepare. And to prepare means that what I do intuitively needs to be a bit more clear, and that helps me consolidate my findings. I would say that's more important for me than doing proper research in academia, where I am. Typically that for me is not the one that drives me. 

It's more of these kind of like lectures, teaching, and recently workshops where I put myself with people that are doing the same thing or trying to do similar things, but at the worldwide scale. So typically you match yourself with the top on AI or the top ones on fabrication, then you really create a leap in your foundations. I think I would say maybe on that side is the competitive side of me, which is very strong. I'm a very competitive person.

Excellent. I was watching other interviews you've done, and you have said, “We're not just following old rules anymore. We're making new ones.” So what are the new rules?

I think in many years of education, we have been told what is a good design, what is good practice, and things that most importantly know what is good, what is bad, “This is bad. This shouldn't be done.” And we live with that. We assume that is right. I think what I feel when I'm working, especially now, with AI and 3D printing, but both are synergistic, mostly with AI, I felt the liberation from those chains and I said, well, I mean, things can be done differently regarding style, regarding conceptual thinking, regarding the process to follow. 

Typically in architecture, you are told to start with a concept, with simple, abstract concepts. At some point they materialize into physical architecture. And now from your end, we can start with the last document, which typically is the final image, and then we just do reverse engineering to get there. And for me, it's like completely a whole new process where the thinking is new. The steps you follow are completely redefined. 

And, yeah, we are creating new rules to get there. And for me, that's exciting, because what were told that you can start with an image like that. “You cannot create the whole thing now.” You can do it, and then why not? And maybe the outcome is better. So that's also an open question. But for me, it's like we are creating new rules.

And similarly, how often does an AI prompt lead to something more inspirational than you are anticipating?

Well, depends also on the task I'm doing. When I'm taking it in a very open ended way, let's say, exploring concepts without a brief, like, just for myself, it is actually very high. Let's say 70% minimum. Like, really exciting. 

When I'm working on something that needs to meet certain requirements, then maybe I get something unexpectedly wrong. So it's like, maybe it's a different feel, right? So you're getting something, but it's not what you want, and then nothing. Typically depends on what you're looking for. You can be a bit more frustrated or you can be more inspired. 

But I typically get more on the inspired side. And I would say that the rates, if I want to say, have to say a number, is like, 70%, like, really inspiring, 30% frustrating or not inspiring.

And moving on to questions of finishing. How do you know when you're done?

Well, I think maybe after doing it many times, the complete process of designing, I think you get to know that moment. What it is like in any relationship or any process, you know, where it's closing to the end. So maybe you don't know fully that, “Okay, now is that moment,” but maybe you know that you're nearing that moment in which all the elements are somehow running by themselves and you are kind of letting the project have its own life. And then you start becoming a bit more hands off, more autopilot. And then for me, it's like, “Okay, it's done.” 

I mean, maybe I don't need to keep pushing much just to wrap up and not more inputs to be given. So I think it's just as part of the process. When you feel like you are not pushing more things, you're just basically standing and trying to just let it settle somehow naturally. And that happens different stages. But I think you develop that sense of knowing when the operating is done and there's not much more you can add to it.

And for you, what makes a successful creative project?

Successful? I think there are different ways to measure success. That one is tricky because you have your self way of rating it, which is like, are you happy with the outcome? Like yourself, you accomplish certain goals, your standards, your intentions are there. Then for me, that's a highly successful project in terms of inner satisfaction to what I understand is design. It may not be perceived as successful by other people. That typically happens, and sometimes that needs time. You develop something and it's not appreciated, and you need a few years, even decades to be appreciated. So that's why it's very difficult to rate success immediately, even though now we have all these likes and social media platforms that tells you if it's successful or not. But I think for me, it's just one of the many ways to rate a design. 

For me, it takes some time to really see if the design is a successful one. But I mean, to me, what I typically look at, the most important way of reading it is like my internal satisfaction, my internal level of happiness with the outcome, because I think that is basically sign that somehow certain levels of quality and design ethos are there. And sometimes if people don't perceive it, then I typically will believe that it's maybe a matter of time, maybe a matter of maybe communication. But if I'm internally happy, I think there's many points of the design that are good. That's what I believe.

Moving on to questions about sources of inspiration and collaboration. Where do you find your inspiration?

Inspiration, it's to get exposed to the things that inspires me. So inspiration comes from things related to technology, computational designs, art related to technology, and that embraces the early technologies. As I said before, they're very simple geometric systems that were created with a few bits to the latest algorithms that I think generate something inside of me. Like, I think it's related to some geometry and mathematics and something visually very impactful. 

So inspiration comes mostly from visual sources, not from readings. It's very visual. So I could get inspired by photographs, by experiencing spaces by algebra and algorithms. Music inspires a lot. So different sources, but yeah, I would say it's hybrid. I mean, it's not only one source.

Okay. What media, like books, blogs, magazines or podcasts, do you recommend?

It's difficult for me to recommend one source, the aggregators, I would say. I try to be very active on social media, so I try to follow people that somehow produce good content more than going to a source that compiles that content. So then on that side, Instagram works well, but sometimes the creation, what you get is not great. So I combine that with X, with maybe the ones I could go for are typically. 

If I want to get some inspiration or technical knowledge, I just go specifically for the person that I know is going to create that. So I don't rely much on the aggregators. I just create a list on my social media. And predictably, when I don't see any update, I just go check what they're doing.

And who, if anyone, is creating architecture that makes you think, “I wish I made that?”

Well, that's a tricky one. Wish I made that well, the name one that pops now in my mind would be Junya Ishigami, the Japanese young architect. Always very surprising by its simplicity and its principles. And also maybe Anton Garcia, Spanish architecture in MIT that works with very strong natural principles and tectonics that are very raw but also very innovative.

Okay. When and where do your lightning bolt ideas occur?

That's hard to say. I think I don't have a place or time in which that happens. But as I said, it's more probably out of my regular living place. So when I'm traveling, it happens more often. When I'm probably a bit less busy with mundane things. It could be stressful, but I just need to be out of the routines, and then that allows for those light bulb moments to happen. 

But typically, it's overseas. Typically, it's by myself. It's not in a team. It's not in a conversation. It's more by myself.

How much of your creative process is solitary, and how much is collaboration with others?

95% solitary, 5% collaboration with others.

Wow. Okay. When you do collaborate with others, what is that like? How does that work?

It works well, but I typically enjoy it less when I need to agree with certain kinds of decisions, so I enjoy it most when I'm doing it almost fully by myself or when the collaboration happens in a not equal level. So maybe the collaborators are executing or developing certain ideas further, they can actually surprise you with many new points of view, which is great, but typically I feel like I want to get control myself of where the project goes. 

So I'm enjoying collaborations, but typically I don't enjoy collaborations like as I said, at the same level because it typically went up in the middle ground. Although in some projects, especially more the earlier ones that I started with my firm in architecture, probably that 95/5 was not fair. Then it was more 60/40, where we were starting our foundations. And I think probably I was more receptive to just take someone else's ideas and expand them. 

Actually, I'm really fine doing that. Not just only doing my idea, I can develop. I think I'm good at developing as well, but I think I enjoy the most now in the current moment in which I am, because I'm trying to search for something new. Then I need to have that space for that 95%. So I think it changes. I would say I just gave you my latest update on the number, but if you ask me maybe 10 years ago, maybe it could be still like 60/40.

What role, if any, does feedback play in your creativity?

It's very strong. I need constant feedback from everyone I have around. I ask about my work to my kids, to my wife, to friends, to students, to anyone. I try to get to see their first reaction, to see their face. I mean just the best impression to it. From ChatGPT, I also try to get feedback. So just try to get from any potential source and I take it as a very valuable input. 

So for me I think it's very important to understand how people see your work, so you are understanding them better and understanding the world better, and then you try to aim for it a bit more. It's not that I do it for the people, but I try to connect with my art or with my architecture with people. So that's why I need to get the feedback.

Okay. And moving on to questions surrounding challenges or obstacles and how to overcome them. For you, what is the hardest part of creation?

Sometimes, it's not very rewarding as acknowledged in this world. It's taken for granted, and sometimes what you are doing is not appreciated. Not many people know what's behind the scenes. They think that it's just maybe an inspiration moment, that you have it there. But they don't know about the amount of time and hours that you're putting behind it. So I think the lack of appreciation and how sometimes it can be compared to the very mundane, not even designs. I don't know how to call it, but things that are not even valuable. 

Not everyone appreciates the design process, the design creation process. And it's sometimes very difficult to justify or even to explain to someone. So that's the most maybe ungrateful and sometimes challenging, because you need to keep self-driven. In the end, it's difficult to get that drive from other sources.

What stops your creative flow faster than anything?

Maybe I take it more in the respect or appreciation or lack of empathy. If I'm working with someone and that person, there's zero connection. They’re actually not respecting you as a talented designer, for me, is a showstopper. Then I will stop. I won't put my time there. It's a showstopper. 

I think maybe when you're working, putting heart and soul in your designs, you want the person or the people or the team you're working with to really be devoted to that, and you expect to get positive reaction or at least support. And when it's the opposite is, for me, the worst environment for design.

How do you make progress when you are blocked or feel like you're at a dead end?

Well, if I believe they want to make that particular design happen and I see there's a big hurdle, or I'm blocked, definitely I will try to tackle it from perpendicular direction or some different approach. So I will probably try to tackle it from a different side. I always try to find a solution. I think I'm good at bypassing those things because I'm very, as I said, driven and competitive. 

If I see there's somehow something that stops me from getting there, I take it as a challenge. So I will use 10 times more energy, or I'll find maybe a way to get there, whatever it takes. Sometimes I need to produce documents that are ambiguous for them to take them. So if I need to cross a line to get the design happen, I will do that.

Okay. And how do you avoid ruts or preconceptions?

I mean, preconceptions are something you need to deal with that almost every day, especially when you have clients. They take you to kind of a preconceived idea of what is almost everything. Right? You design a toilet. They understand what a toilet is. When you design a canteen, I'm doing now, they tell you a canteen is like this. So it's typically you are driven to a certain preconceived idea of everything. 

And then what I'm trying to do is typically when I explain my designs, I'm very explicit on how I move from the preconceived idea to something else. So probably, I elaborate a lot of the narrative when I explain my design, so I can somehow convince them or explain to them how we don't do the conventional approach in the designs. Typically, I compare what is conventional, what is like, what I do, and then explain why we move to that space.

Can you think of a time that a constraint was beneficial to your creativity?

Yes, I think most of the time constraints are beneficial in different ways. If I think of a particular one… I mean, it could be a budget constraint and make the product very slim and clear, so you get rid of the fat. And typically that helps a lot to bring clarity. Could be constraints on timeline, and those make the process maybe more intense and faster, and for me, works. So constraints in terms of times and times are right to get a better project. 

And sometimes constraints appear on the way, as in regulations or certain kind of materials that cannot be used or certain kind of like factual restrictions. At some point you can see them as a stopper, but then you find a way to go around them, and then typically the project gets better. So most of the time, those constraints are making the projects better.

What is a telltale sign that it's time to abandon an idea?

Well, when it feels forced. When it feels like it’s not running naturally. When it's something that you're fighting constantly. And at some point you develop that feeling that something’s not flowing. It's against too many things, and then you feel like you're on the wrong track.

What kind or type of work would you like to do that you haven't done yet?

Maybe something related to video game, as in professionally, like creating some designs for it or with movies. So where space creation, static styles are applied into cinematic ways. So those are quite appealing to me.

Do you have more than one creative skill, hobby, or interest?

Well, a lot. I mean, music. I like to play composed music by myself, but not at a professional level. Just for me. Because it's a way for me to switch from the more visual to the more melodic creation point of view. So coding, of course, is embedded in what I do. So not just conventional architecture is about coding and working at that level of creation. I think for me, creative coding is very important, and I try to use it also to produce art pieces. 

I also combine with even fitness and exercise, where I also do some intercycling teaching. It’s with graphics, it's 360 degrees, like immersive. So I always think of how those graphics could be challenged using AI. And maybe at some point I will try to get some collaboration in that field.

What do you think that different creative fields have in common? Is there anything universal to some of them or all of them?

I think there's something there. I think it's very difficult to explain, maybe, but I feel something similar when I'm playing the piano and composing. When I'm developing these architectural pieces or coding, there's a certain state of mind. There's a certain flow. There's a certain joy that you achieve when you're doing all. 

So if something is shared, when the creation process happens, I think also it unlocks you from thinking. I think I find myself when I'm creating. That I'm getting to that point in which I'm thinking less in a procedural way. Like thinking, as in, like I'm going to follow ABC and I put myself in a point in which I do. I just find that space, that things flow, where things are somehow developed mostly from the intuition, from not a very procedural way. 

So when I play music, it's also following certain intuition. When I call it following intuition, when I design, it's the same thing. And I find myself not breaking it down into rational steps anymore, which typically I do. When I need to teach or when I need to give a lecture, I need to break it down. But when it's the creation process, it's not there. And I think it's something that unifies, at least for me, the creation process.

What skill or technique from a different field would you like to bring into your own work?

Well, from a different field. Mmm. Well, maybe even deeper understanding on fundamental programming concepts, I think going extremely deep to the roots of coding. I don't have the time anymore to get there, but I would love to have that deep understanding. I think that will be a great influence to my designs, and I hope I can get there somehow.

Who do you think of when I say most creative person?

Most creative person, I think for me, maybe are the ones full of talent and also the ones that are able to articulate those many talents that probably some other people don't see coming together. But those are the ones that are able to combine and synchronize different wavelengths, different fields, into one piece, because they might be at a different speed. There are different wavelengths. 

Some people don't see, but I think those are the ones that are able to adjust to the different wavelengths around and to combine them into something that is orchestrated and works well.

And how does your teaching influence your practice?

I think teaching for me is very important in different ways. So on one hand, I said before, it helps me rationalize, which is an artificial process for me. But it helps to somehow take it out from me. And then I need to break it down into prepared materials. I need to explain it to students, and that helps consolidate maybe some of the findings and sometimes to be aware of things that I have achieved that I'm not aware because I'm just doing. And it helps me be like, “Oh, actually, I'm doing this.” I'm telling this to my students. So that helps me maybe to be at some point more efficient in my practice because those processes are streamlined and maybe those are more optimized when I teach them to my students. 

On the other hand, it really benefits my practice because I test ideas with them, and also I see how they work in kind of a lab space. And it allows me to develop those early ideas with them. And some of them could be the ones that I'm maybe putting in practice.

Okay. The last question I have for you, and it's a difficult one… It's difficult to choose between your “children”, so to speak. But what is your favorite work that you have done so far in your career?

It's a very challenging question because, as you said, you love your kids almost equally, but, you know, different things, different qualities of them, right? 

I don't know if you can say two, but I'm proud of my thesis project in architecture, and I'm proud because for me, it was not just a project. It was like the fight I put against my professors and in a quite hostile environment, to be able to, as you said, cross all the hurdles and the problems and the blockages and have a podium to speak, have a space for me to develop myself as an artist or as an architect and to grow. So that was, for me, the project that made me be what I am, because it was done 100% by myself, almost with no mentor. It was like a bit of exercise, developing new techniques of drawing, developing new idea of what I understood was architecture. So it was a space for me to grow almost in solitude. So I would say that is a project that really determined maybe my path, and I still can feel. 

And from my recent work, I would say I'm very proud of the latest developments that are probably the ones that I'm very excited about and probably keeps me so engaged as never before, are the new AI designs. Especially the series I'm creating, The Villas. So I'm working with this new format, new aesthetics, and bringing back to my childhood the coding part, the AI part, the architect part converges, the music part converges. So these videos, these pieces of art for me, are encapsulating many of the things I always look for. I'm now working on a series of 30 of them, and I'm fully in. So that drives me, almost 100% of my time right now.

Where can we find these Villas?

So those Villas are produced. I post them regularly, almost once a week on Twitter and sometimes Instagram. But they're part of a collection presented in Daily XYZ. So now, on a weekly basis, I'm producing one. But on 2 May, I have a solo exhibition. So for that day, a number of 30 villas will be done. So that will get me devoted to it for a month, producing and researching on again the fundamentals of architecture with AI. So for me, it's a very deep, very personal space to explore that fusion of AI, architecture, music. 

I call it Villas at 30 frames per second, or 60 frames per second, which connects to my video games years, where the frame rate was something that was so important for me to achieve a high frame rate with the low technology that we had before. So somehow I'm trying to go back to those years where somehow everything started. And now with the power of AI and the knowledge I got from my architectural years, I'm trying to produce these pieces. For me, it's a beginner of a new journey.

Okay, that's all the questions I have. And I want to thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule and your creative practice to talk with me. And for illuminating different facets of the creative process for me.

Thank you so much. I think what you're doing is amazing, and I'm really excited about when something is published about it, and I would love to see the progress on that. Thanks for thinking of me. 

And I think I was really excited about today's interview, but the questions, they really took something out of me that maybe before I was not thinking much about. Actually, this hour helped me a lot. So in that sense, I want to thank you as well.