How Bjarke Ingels Group Uses AI to Supercharge 800 Architects

The Challenge: Too Many Tools, Not Enough Workflows.

Five years ago, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) saw artificial intelligence exploding across their design technology ecosystem. New platforms and tools were appearing constantly - an overwhelming wave of innovation that promised to help architects design better buildings. But with opportunity came chaos.

German Otto Bodenbender, Director of Design Technology at BIG, and Ana Gabriela Loayza, Architect & AI Lead, have been at the forefront of the firm’s AI adoption. Together, they’ve led the effort to transform a fragmented landscape of tools into a unified design intelligence platform.

“We found ourselves having multiple tools and platforms and logins,”
German explains. “It was a nightmare that most companies face today.”

Sketch of city skyline with connector lines linking to architectural photographs and elevation charts.

The firm tested and filtered tools, trying to standardize across the company. But even after curation, they were still juggling too many platforms, each requiring separate workflows and training.

The Solution: One Platform to Augment Them All

xFigura became BIG’s answer to the fragmentation problem - a single workspace that consolidated multiple AI tools into one collaborative canvas.

“xFigura helped us stop talking about models and tools and platforms,” German says. “And start talking about workflows.”

The firm created a series of standardized workflows that any of their 800 employees could access:

Sketch to render - Transform hand drawings into photorealistic images
Rhino to render - Transform Rhino models into photorealistic images (using xFigura’s Rhino Integration)
Typology exploration - Test building forms and spatial configurations
Material and facade variations - Change finishes without affecting underlying geometry
Season and lighting changes - Visualize projects across different conditions
Conceptual drawings - Generate clean architectural linework from complex renders
Physical model design - Collaborate with fabrication specialists on model aesthetics

These workflows live on an enterprise board that serves as an “elevated plateau” for designers to begin their creative journey.

Architectural concept with design sketches, rendered building views, elevation diagrams, and space planning details.

The Impact: Design Intelligence at Scale

With xFigura’s enterprise dashboard, BIG can now monitor how AI tools are being used across all 800 team members - not to control, but to understand.

“We can see what models people use the most, what are the most used workflows, how people engage with the tools,” German explains. “We get full usability and usage data across the entire company.”

Grid display of architectural designs including tower iterations, building elevations, interior spaces, and material studies.

What’s Next?

BIG continues to expand their use of 3D AI models, including image-to-mesh workflows that produce segmented, architecture-friendly geometry. As these tools mature, the firm sees potential for even tighter integration between AI-generated concepts and production-ready documentation. “All of these workflows allow a designer to use AI efficiently and meaningfully in a project,” German says. “We’re putting these tools at the fingertips of all our designers.”

BIG is a Copenhagen, New York, London, and Barcelona-based architecture firm with 800 employees working on projects across four continents.

Four generative decorative tower designs showing NANO BANA generated, HUNTUYAN 3D, and 3D printed versions.

About xFigura

xFigura is the AI workspace built for architects and designers. The platform unifies 50+ AI models - including the latest image, video, and 3D generators - into a single collaborative canvas.

Welcome world interface showing island views and conversation roles as Consultant, Architect, Client

What makes xFigura different:

All models, one platform - Access Midjourney, DALL-E, Flux, Sora, Runway, and dozens more without juggling logins or subscriptions. New models are added weekly.
Built for design workflows - Chain models together in node-based workflows.
Go from sketch → render → video → 3D model in a single canvas.
Enterprise-ready - Centralized credit pools, usage analytics, data security controls, and the ability to enable/disable specific models based on your firm’s policies.
Seamless integration - Connect directly to Rhino, Revit, and SketchUp via the Speckle integration. A native Rhino plugin is now available.
Collaboration-first - Share boards, workflows, and prompts across your team. See what’s working for colleagues and build on each other’s discoveries.

Whether you’re a solo practitioner or a global firm with hundreds of designers, xFigura puts the full power of AI at your fingertips - without the complexity.

Five icon tiles showing collaborative tools, network connectivity, medical traceability, customization, and workflow automation.

Ready to Transform Your Firm's AI Workflows?

xFigura is already being used by some of the world's leading architecture and design firms — and we're just getting started. Contact us at info@xfigura.ai for an enterprise demo and we'll walk you through everything.