In a Metropolis roundtable published October 23, 2026, architects and designers from Gensler, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Perkins&Will, HOK and other firms described how AI is changing their client relationships. DSR associate principal Charles Berman said some clients now tell him "they don't need three months for schematic design. They can do it in two." Gensler design director Brandon Smart described a different outcome: after he told a client the firm would do its project "with more thought and more richness," the firm got more budget for AI through concept, schematic design and design development.
What did the Metropolis roundtable find?
Metropolis organized three roundtables with Innovant and Motif, and Sophie Sobol's summary quotes designers and technologists from the participating firms.
Berman described the pressure plainly: clients pushing for a shorter schematic phase with a smaller team, which he said feels "like a weapon pointed at my back."
Smart described the answer his team gave a client. "I put together a presentation on how we use AI, gave it to the client, and explained the value it gives to our people," he said, along with "the design and the richness of thought and idea." The firm "got a ton more money to use AI as a tool through concept, schematic design, and design development."
Yash Mehta, Gensler's regional design technology director, named the cost of the new volume: "when you can develop a hundred options in two minutes, judgment becomes more critical."
Why does the speed question land hardest on a small studio?
You're already using these tools, and they've given you something real. Rendering in our own studio dropped from roughly 40 hours to minutes, and a client can now see a second direction before the meeting ends. The question that follows is whether the fee should shrink to match, and for a studio where the principal's taste is the product, that question is about what you're selling.
If you've felt pressure to answer it with a discount, that pressure comes from the belief behind the client's request: that going faster is the point of the tools. Gensler's client conversation is evidence against it. The client paid more once the firm described what the tools let it consider, and the speed stayed in the background.
A five-person studio can have that conversation sooner than a firm of Gensler's size can. You decide what goes in the proposal, and you're usually the one in the room presenting it.
How do you present AI to a client as more thinking?
Describe what the tools let you explore, then describe where your decisions take over.
- Name the phase. Concept and early schematic are where we'd start: massing studies, palette variations, a living room furnished three ways before you commit to one.
- Say what the client will see. "We'll test a dozen directions internally and bring you the three worth discussing" tells the client where the volume goes and where the editing happens.
- Say what stays with you. Material selection, the specification, the call on which direction fits how they live. That's the part a client can't get from a tool, and it's where the fee belongs.
| The speed pitch | The depth pitch | |
|---|---|---|
| The pitch | We'll get you to schematic sooner. | We'll test more directions before you see one. |
| The client hears | The same work, for less | More of the thinking they hired you for |
How Interior Designers Are Using AI Tools in 2026 covers the other half of this: deciding inside the studio what the hours AI returns are for.
What goes wrong once clients see more options?
The depth pitch has a failure mode, and you'll meet it in the second or third project. Once a client knows you can generate directions cheaply, they may ask to see all of them, and a review with thirty options hands your judgment to the client. Gensler's Yash Mehta told Metropolis that as options multiply, "judgment becomes more critical." Your judgment is what the client hired you for.
Decide before the kickoff how many directions you present at each phase, and put that number in the proposal. When a client asks for more, show them one more with your reasoning for setting it aside, so the conversation stays on your taste.
Related questions
Do clients expect faster design work because of AI?
Some do. In Metropolis's October 2026 roundtable, Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Charles Berman said clients now argue that schematic design they once gave three months can be done in two, with smaller teams.
Should a design firm lower its fees when it uses AI?
Gensler's experience points the other way. Design director Brandon Smart told Metropolis that presenting AI as more thought and richness of ideas won the firm more budget across concept, schematic design and design development.
How many design options should you show a client?
Set the number in the proposal before work starts, usually two or three per phase. Gensler's Yash Mehta told Metropolis that when a hundred options take two minutes, judgment becomes more critical.
What should a design proposal say about AI?
Say which phases use AI tools, what the client will see as a result, and which decisions stay with the designer. Clients can then weigh what they're paying for.
What this changes for a studio
The firms in this roundtable are much larger than yours, and the client conversation is the same one. We'd answer the speed question the way Gensler did: with what you now get to consider. If you discount for speed, you're charging less for the taste the client hired you for. Start the AI Disclosure Conversation With Clients Before They Ask covers what to tell a client about where the tools touch their work.
This week, open your current proposal template and write one paragraph for the concept phase: what you'll explore, how many directions the client will see, and which decisions you make. Read it back as the client would. If it describes speed, rewrite it around the directions you'll test.
Working together
Flow State Found works with a limited number of businesses to make their best work their baseline. Clients have started asking for a shorter concept phase, and the fee question arrives with them. We build the studio systems that carry the volume, so your proposals can sell the thinking. We take on limited engagements, so it starts with a conversation.
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