Architecture inside the mirage: evaluating generative image models on architectural style, elements, and typologies

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) text-to-image systems are increasingly used to generate architectural imagery, yet their capacity to reproduce accurate images in a historically rule-bound field remains poorly characterized. We evaluated five widely used GenAI image platforms (Adobe Firefly, DALL-E 3, Google Imagen 3, Microsoft Image Generator, and Midjourney) using 30 architectural prompts spanning styles, typologies, and codified elements. Each prompt-generator pair produced four images (n = 600 images total). Two architectural historians independently scored each image for accuracy against predefined criteria, resolving disagreements by consensus. Set-level performance was summarized as zero to four accurate images per four-image set. Image output from Common prompts was 2.7-fold more accurate than from Rare prompts (p < 0.05). Across platforms, overall accuracy was limited (highest accuracy score 52 percent; lowest 32 percent; mean 42 percent). All-correct (4 out of 4) outcomes were similar across platforms. By contrast, all-incorrect (0 out of 4) outcomes varied substantially, with Imagen 3 exhibiting the fewest failures and Microsoft Image Generator exhibiting the highest number of failures. Qualitative review of the image dataset identified recurring patterns including over-embellishment, confusion between medieval styles and their later revivals, and misrepresentation of descriptive prompts (for example, egg-and-dart, banded column, pendentive). These findings support the need for visible labeling of GenAI synthetic content, provenance standards for future training datasets, and cautious educational use of GenAI architectural imagery.