Architects and interior designers have switched from pencils and papers to digital software and iPads, causing a significant change in design practices over the last few decades. Digital tools, as well as VR and AR technologies, are changing the way we learn, work, and live. And a whole new direction of parametric design, which is native to the digital world, has appeared.

Planner 5D – a 3D home design platform that enables anyone to create floor plans and interior designs with the help of AI – has announced the launch of the Data-Driven Interior Design Program to partner and collaborate with educational institutions, universities, and dedicated researchers. Planner 5D currently helps more than 70 million users who have created over 300 million projects improving their living or working spaces, renovating their homes, and changing the look and feel of places they belong to.

The idea is a simple one. To support science and research in the field of interior design and architecture, the team has launched a dedicated program for those who have a particular interest in the future of interior design, parametric design, or people’s design habits in various cultures. Planner 5D invites universities, and dedicated researchers to collaborate and develop joint research to provide insights, test the hypothesis, or answer any questions about the future of the industry.

So how do we define “data-driven design?”

“It is the design that is based on the knowledge extracted from a massive amount of interior plans created by designers and consumer users from all over the world,” Andrey Ustyugov, CEO at Planner 5D, told me. “Through analyzing such data, we can notice various trends and test different hypotheses in the area of parametric design and general design trends.”

There are many projects where teams are using AI to produce “the perfect city,” including everything from road plans, aesthetic architecture, green areas, and more in an attempt to create cities that promote positive mental health. How does Planner 5D feel about the potential of using data to design home, work, and business spaces – and even entire cities – that help promote good mental health?

“We’re watching this industry closely,” Ustyugov said. “We do believe that such an approach will help us to raise the bar for design in general. Just like all other applications of AI, the goal is to scale and transfer the knowledge of the entire community of professionals coupled with the best researchers in this sphere and make it accessible, whether it’s city planning, architecture, or design.”

The program promises to bring together a whole community of data-driven designers, and those that are interested in using the latest technologies to achieve innovation in this space.

“We want to encourage communities of designers and researchers to watch closely at possibilities brought to us by the data extracted from the designs of living spaces,” Ustyugov said. “That’s the most fascinating thing to me.”

Importantly, the program is absolutely free of charge, as it is intended for research purposes.

“Our mission is to help people achieve better design, and making good design more accessible to people through the help of technologies is a crucial step here,” Ustyugov said.

Anyone interested in cooperating with Planner 5D can fill in a short questionnaire available here.

Earlier this year Planner 5D launched a free educational version that will help schools teach kids design, architecture, and engineering. Planner 5D also launched its interior design school which has been attended by 43,000 students who mastered the fundamentals needed to design functional, ergonomic, and stunning interiors and create the living space of their dreams.