Gensler Invests $400,000 in Universities to Advance Human-Centered AI Education for the Next Generation of Designers

Through the Gensler Academic Partnership Fund, four universities developed new courses exploring how emerging AI technologies can expand design thinking, storytelling, and creativity while keeping human judgment at the center.

SAN FRANCISCO — Global architecture, design, and planning firm Gensler today announced a $400,000 investment through the Gensler Academic Partnership Fund to support four universities in developing new courses that prepare the next generation of architects and designers to use artificial intelligence thoughtfully and effectively in professional practice.

The University of Cincinnati School of Architecture and Interior Design; University of the District of Columbia College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences; University of Michigan, Taubman College; and University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Architecture and Design, each received $100,000 to develop and implement a course for the 2026-27 academic year centered on human-centered AI innovation in design.

The initiative is part of Gensler’s broader commitment to investing in the next generation of design talent. Across its education programs and partnerships, Gensler supports students at multiple stages of their education and career development through scholarships and bursaries, internships and mentorship programs, strategic and research partnerships, career development, and other initiatives. The Gensler Academic Partnership Fund specifically directs sustained investment toward institutions and curriculum initiatives that will shape the architecture and design field and prepare students for practice.

“Design has always evolved alongside new ideas and new tools, and AI gives this generation of designers another opportunity to push the profession forward,” said Robin Klehr Avia, Chair, Gensler Academic Partnership Fund. “What’s exciting about these courses is that students will be able to experiment, question, and learn while developing the creativity and critical thinking that great design demands. Investing in their education means investing in the ideas and talent that will define what comes next in our industry.”

Preparing Designers for an AI-Enabled Future

The 2026 program builds on the Fund’s university course development initiative, first piloted in 2024 with a focus on sustainability. This year, Gensler invited universities to reimagine the design process and its communication through approaches to ideation and storytelling anchored in human-centered thinking and augmented by AI.

Rather than treating AI as a replacement for the designer, the program challenges students to consider it as a collaborator: a tool that can expand the possibilities of craft, communication, storytelling, and design thinking while maintaining the importance of human authorship and critical judgment. The selected proposals also explore interdisciplinary collaboration, ethical and transparent uses of AI, and the relationship between emerging technologies and human experience.

The four selected courses are:

• University of Cincinnati School of Architecture and Interior Design — “SENSE-AI: Developing Spatial Experiences for Narrative and Sensory Emotions with AI.” A fourth-year Architecture and Interior Design studio that combines AI, extended reality, and spatial computing to develop human-centered spatial experiences. Students will move through iterative cycles of ideation, AI-assisted synthesis, immersive testing, and narrative refinement, with an emphasis on human judgment, authorship, and ethical considerations.
• University of the District of Columbia College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability, and Environmental Sciences — “Architecture as Story—Analog, AI, and Hybrid Narratives.” An advanced design studio that explores architecture as a narrative practice across analog, AI-assisted, and hybrid modes of design. Students will examine how different forms of representation influence human perception and emotional response while learning to use AI as a collaborator rather than a substitute for design thinking.
• University of Michigan, Taubman College — “Story Engine: AI, Representation, and Architectural Intelligence.” An interdisciplinary design laboratory that positions AI as a narrative medium requiring human framing, editing, and ethical governance. The course will explore storytelling as an architectural competency while examining questions of authorship, representation, public perception, and the responsibility designers retain when working with AI.
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Architecture and Design — “Prompting Impact: Human-Centered AI and Design Intelligence.” A cross-disciplinary course exploring how designers can use AI to interpret information, navigate uncertainty, and communicate design ideas while maintaining human judgment and accountability. Its modular curriculum will address areas including AI-mediated ethics, narrative intelligence, data, ecological impact, and AI-assisted design processes.

Gensler Principal Sponsors serve as project champions at each university, providing practice-based advice and connecting faculty and students with resources from across the firm. The 2026 Principal Sponsors are Stephanie Burritt and Jim Prendergast for the University of Cincinnati; Don Ghent for the University of the District of Columbia; Randy Howder for the University of Michigan, Taubman College; and Brooks Morelock for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Gensler Academic Partnership Fund

The Gensler Academic Partnership Fund is one component of Gensler’s wider education programs and partnerships, reflecting the firm’s belief that investing in education is an investment in the future of design. Gensler’s education commitment spans seven areas: the Gensler Academic Partnership Fund; Scholarships and Bursaries; Internships and Mentorship Programs; Strategic Partnerships; Research Partnerships; Career Development; and Matching Contributions.

Through the Academic Partnership Fund, Gensler supports both university course development and intensive student design charrettes at the seven accredited architecture programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Its university course development program provides funding for academic partners to create future-ready curricula in sustainability, AI, and related subjects.

Together, these efforts are designed to connect education more closely with the evolving realities of professional practice while giving emerging designers opportunities to develop the creativity, judgment, and skills needed to shape the future of the built environment.

About Gensler

At Gensler, the value of our work stems from its positive impact on the human experience. We are a dynamic and collaborative design firm uniting creativity, research, and innovation to solve complex problems for our clients. Our work challenges conventional ideas about architecture and the built environment. We aren’t just designing buildings — we are reimagining cities and places that make a difference in people’s lives. Founded in 1965, Gensler has built a team of 6,000 professionals who partner with clients in over 100 countries each year. Everything we do is guided by our mission: to create a better world through the power of design.