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AI Architecture Prompts: 30 Examples

Nuit Team · · 14 min read
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The best AI architecture prompts share a common structure: typology, style, materials, context, spatial or functional detail, and atmosphere. A prompt with all six elements produces coherent, useful concepts; a prompt with one or two produces generic results that could describe any building.

This guide covers the prompt structure that works across Midjourney, Nano Banana, and specialized architecture tools like Nuit, plus 30 real prompt examples you can adapt to your own projects.

The Anatomy of an Effective Architectural Prompt

Every strong prompt answers these six questions:

  1. Typology — What kind of building? (villa, apartment, office, boutique hotel, restaurant)
  2. Style — What architectural language? (Mediterranean, Brutalist, Japandi, Tropical Modern)
  3. Materials — What is it made of? (natural stone, white plaster, oxidized steel, glulam timber)
  4. Context — Where is it? (coastal site, urban infill, forest clearing, mountainside)
  5. Spatial or functional detail — What’s specific about the program or layout? (double-height living, courtyard, 3 bedrooms upstairs, rooftop terrace)
  6. Atmosphere — What does it feel like, and how should it be shot? (golden hour, overcast, interior daylight from skylight)

Weak prompts skip three or four of these and hope the AI fills in. Strong prompts specify all six and let the AI focus on form-giving within constraints.

The Same Brief, Weak vs Strong

Weak: “Modern villa with pool”

Strong: “Contemporary two-story villa on a Mediterranean coastal site, natural limestone walls with deep window reveals, horizontal timber louvers, flat roofs with generous overhangs, infinity pool on the south terrace overlooking the sea, olive and cypress trees, golden hour, architectural photography, wide shot.”

The weak prompt will produce something that looks like an AI-generated villa — probably glossy, probably white. The strong prompt will produce a specific place with specific materials at a specific time of day.

10 Exterior Prompts That Work

1. Mediterranean Courtyard House

“Single-story Mediterranean courtyard house, thick whitewashed plaster walls, small deep-set windows, terracotta tile roof, central open courtyard with olive tree, stone-paved entry with wooden gate, arid landscape, morning sunlight, architectural photography.”

Expected result: Warm, textural exterior with strong shadows and a clear courtyard typology. Works especially well for residential concepts in dry climates.

2. Brutalist Concrete Residence

“Two-story Brutalist private residence, board-formed concrete walls with visible wood grain, deep cantilevered volumes, floor-to-ceiling glazing between massing, reflecting pool at the entry, mature Japanese maples, overcast sky, architectural photography, front-three-quarter view.”

Expected result: Heavy geometric mass, clear material character, dramatic shadows. Good for clients who want a statement residence.

3. Japanese-Inspired Minimalist Home

“Japanese-inspired minimalist single-story home, dark charred-cedar cladding (shou sugi ban), deep horizontal roof with exposed timber beams, sliding glass doors opening to a moss garden with stone path, interior courtyard with single pine tree, soft overcast light, quiet atmosphere.”

Expected result: Low, horizontal composition with a strong relationship to landscape. Works for wooded or garden sites.

4. Tropical Modern Villa

“Tropical modern villa in a jungle clearing, exposed board-formed concrete and local hardwood, generous roof overhangs for rain, outdoor covered lounges, infinity pool wrapping around the main volume, dense tropical vegetation, cinematic late-afternoon light.”

Expected result: Strong indoor-outdoor relationship, textured natural materials, lush vegetation. Strong for Bali, Caribbean, or Southeast Asian contexts.

5. Urban Infill Townhouse

“Contemporary urban infill townhouse on a narrow 6-meter-wide lot, dark brick facade with vertical window slots, recessed entry, metal-framed canopy over the front door, flat roof with parapet, street view from across the road, evening light, city context with neighboring traditional houses.”

Expected result: Tight massing appropriate for real urban conditions. Good for proposals that need to respect context.

6. Boutique Hotel Exterior

“Boutique 20-key hotel on a Mediterranean coastline, three low volumes stepping down the hillside toward the sea, natural stone base, white plaster upper volumes, slim steel canopies over terraces, pedestrian arrival court with mature olive trees, late afternoon sun, aerial three-quarter view.”

Expected result: Clear massing strategy, hospitality scale, site integration. Useful for developer pitches.

7. Glass Pavilion House

“Single-story glass pavilion house in a forest clearing, steel frame painted matte black, full-height glazing on all sides, flat roof with thin edge detail, raised on a concrete plinth, surrounded by birch trees, winter light, exterior photography from the approach path.”

Expected result: Mies-inspired modernist pavilion. Works well with specific landscape context.

8. Mountain Modern Retreat

“Mountain modern retreat at 2,000 meters elevation, stone base transitioning to vertical timber cladding above, steep metal roof with wide overhangs, large windows framing the valley view, covered outdoor firepit on the south terrace, late autumn light with first snow on the peaks, wide shot from the approach road.”

Expected result: Alpine vocabulary with modern detailing. Strong for high-elevation residential concepts.

9. Office Building with Courtyard

“Four-story contemporary office building with internal courtyard, fritted glass facade, exposed structural steel painted matte white, generous ground-floor setback with mature trees, bicycle parking under a cantilevered canopy, midday overcast light, street view.”

Expected result: Commercial scale with clear organization. Good for mixed-use or workspace projects.

10. Restaurant in a Converted Warehouse

“Restaurant housed in a converted 1920s brick warehouse, original brick and steel structure preserved, new glass volume inserted through the roof bringing daylight down, outdoor terrace with string lights and planters, evening with warm interior glow visible through windows, street view.”

Expected result: Adaptive reuse character with layered old-and-new materials. Strong for hospitality concepts in historic buildings.

10 Interior Prompts That Work

11. Minimalist Living Room

“Minimalist living room with 4.5-meter ceiling, polished concrete floor, white plaster walls, full-height windows on two sides bringing natural light, low-profile linen sofa in warm grey, solid oak coffee table, single large abstract painting, Japanese maple visible through the window, early afternoon light.”

12. Scandinavian Kitchen

“Scandinavian-style kitchen with white oak cabinetry, honed white Carrara marble countertops, matte black plumbing fixtures, large central island with pendant lights, herringbone oak floor, white painted walls, window above the sink with potted herbs, morning light.”

13. Japandi Bedroom

“Japandi-style primary bedroom, low platform bed with linen duvet, tatami-style floor insets, light oak paneling on the headboard wall, paper pendant lamp, single framed botanical print, sliding shoji-inspired screens to the dressing area, soft diffused morning light, neutral palette of oatmeal, white, and warm wood.”

14. Industrial Loft Living

“Industrial loft living area in a converted factory, exposed brick walls, original timber ceiling with steel trusses, polished concrete floor with radiant heat, large leather chesterfield sofa, vintage Persian rug, black steel-framed windows overlooking the city, late afternoon sun streaming in.”

15. Boutique Hotel Lobby

“Small boutique hotel lobby, travertine stone floor, curved plaster reception desk in warm off-white, custom brass sconces on textured plaster walls, a single oversized sculptural pendant in the double-height space, bouclé lounge chairs around a round stone coffee table, warm evening lighting.”

16. Home Office in an Attic

“Compact home office in an attic with exposed timber rafters, built-in white oak desk running along the dormer window, task chair in natural leather, wall-mounted shelving with books and ceramics, linen curtains, morning light from the roof window, warm and focused atmosphere.”

17. Mediterranean Kitchen-Dining

“Open-plan Mediterranean kitchen-dining, terracotta tile floor, whitewashed plaster walls, exposed timber beams, hand-crafted ceramic tile backsplash in ochre and blue, solid oak dining table for eight under a wrought-iron pendant, open doors to a courtyard with olive tree, midday summer light.”

18. Modernist Bathroom

“Modernist primary bathroom, full-height honed travertine walls, freestanding sculptural oval bathtub in matte white stone, wall-mounted matte black fixtures, large skylight above the tub, polished pebble floor in the shower area, frosted glass partition, diffused overhead daylight, spa-like atmosphere.”

19. Restaurant Dining Room

“Restaurant dining room with 40 seats, dark stained oak floor, walls in deep forest green plaster, banquettes in warm cognac leather along two walls, round marble-topped tables with thin brass edges, custom pendant lights with amber glass, exposed kitchen visible through a pass, warm evening lighting.”

20. Coworking Lounge

“Coworking lounge area in a contemporary office, modular lounge seating in muted wool tones, café-height tables with power built in, acoustic baffles suspended from the exposed ceiling, large biophilic planting at the edges, floor-to-ceiling windows looking onto a terrace, natural midday light.”

5 Floor Plan Prompts That Work

Floor plan prompts behave differently from perspective-image prompts. General image models (Midjourney, Nano Banana via free-form prompting) will produce images that look like plans but don’t follow architectural conventions. Specialized tools (Nuit, Maket, Planner 5D) interpret plan-intent more reliably. The prompts below are written for specialized tools.

21. Family Home Floor Plan — Simple

“Ground floor plan of a single-story family home, 180 square meters, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, open-plan living-dining-kitchen, covered outdoor terrace facing south, entry to the east, utility room and garage on the west side, simple rectangular footprint.”

22. Family Home Floor Plan — With Courtyard

“Ground floor plan of a 220 square meter single-story house organized around a central courtyard, living and dining volumes on the south side of the courtyard, three bedrooms on the north side, kitchen and service on the west, main entry on the east through a covered loggia.”

23. Two-Story Home Plan — Ground Floor

“Ground floor plan of a two-story family home, 140 square meters on this floor, open-plan living and dining, separate kitchen with pantry, guest bedroom with en-suite on the ground floor, main entry, coat closet, powder room, covered outdoor terrace connected to the living area.”

24. Boutique Hotel Floor Plan — Typical Floor

“Typical upper-floor plan of a 20-room boutique hotel, double-loaded corridor layout, 10 rooms per floor, rooms measuring approximately 28 square meters each with en-suite bathroom, one suite of 45 square meters at the corner, housekeeping room, two elevators and one stair core.”

25. Apartment Plan — Three-Bedroom

“Floor plan of a 95 square meter three-bedroom apartment, entry into a central hall, open living-dining-kitchen along the south-facing balcony, primary bedroom with en-suite at the west end, two smaller bedrooms sharing a bathroom at the east end, storage and laundry near the entry.”

5 Edit Prompts for Image-to-Image Workflows

Edit prompts are used with tools that accept a reference image and a text instruction — Nano Banana excels at these, and Nuit uses the same image-to-image pattern for iterative concept refinement.

26. Material Change

“Using this reference, change the facade material to board-formed concrete while preserving the overall form, window placement, and roof geometry.”

27. Add a Program Element

“Using this exterior render as the starting point, add a rooftop terrace with a pergola on the south side, keep the rest of the building identical.”

28. Change Time of Day

“Using this image, reshoot at golden hour with warm directional light from the west, keep all architectural details and vegetation identical.”

29. Change Context

“Using this house design, place it in a snowy mountain setting instead of the original coastal context, keep the architecture identical but adapt the vegetation and ground plane.”

30. View from a New Angle

“Using this front exterior image, generate the same building viewed from the garden side at the same time of day, keeping materials, proportions, and details consistent.”

The last prompt is the hardest for most AI tools. Midjourney will produce a different building. Nano Banana preserves far more of the original. Tools like Nuit that carry project context across generations handle it most reliably.

Tool-Specific Prompting Tips

Midjourney

  • Use --ar 3:2 or --ar 16:9 for architectural wide shots, --ar 4:5 for vertical interiors
  • Use --style raw for more controllable, less stylized output
  • Use --sref <image URL> to lock aesthetic style across multiple generations
  • Keep prompts under ~60 words — longer prompts dilute intent

Nano Banana

  • Precise instruction-following — describe exactly what you want changed and what to preserve
  • Exceptional at iterative edits on an existing render (material swaps, adding elements, time-of-day changes)
  • Works well with natural language rather than keyword stuffing

Nuit and Other Specialized Tools

  • Describe the project as a whole, not just one view
  • Let the tool branch — generate 4 exterior concepts first, pick one, then generate the floor plan from that
  • Use conversational edits (“move the kitchen to face the garden”) rather than rewriting the whole prompt
  • Reference images help establish style even when your text is precise

What are common mistakes in architectural prompts?

Too vague. “A beautiful modern house” has no constraints — the AI will produce something generic. Always specify at least typology, style, materials, and context.

Too long. A 200-word prompt often produces worse results than a 60-word prompt. Each extra adjective competes with the others for the model’s attention. Prioritize specificity over completeness.

Conflicting instructions. “Minimalist maximalist villa with simple ornate details” confuses the model. Pick one direction and commit.

Style soup. Listing five styles at once (“Japanese minimalist Mediterranean Scandinavian industrial”) produces a hybrid that isn’t any of them. Pick one primary style, optionally modified by one secondary influence.

Missing the shot. For exterior views, specify the camera position and time of day (“front three-quarter view at golden hour”). Without this, you get whatever the model defaults to, which is often uninteresting.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes a good AI architecture prompt?

A good prompt specifies typology, style, materials, context, a spatial or functional detail, and atmosphere. The more specific each element, the more coherent the output. Weak prompts skip three or more of these and produce generic results.

Can AI generate accurate floor plans from a prompt?

Specialized tools like Nuit, Maket, and Planner 5D can generate schematic-quality plans that follow architectural conventions. General image generators like Midjourney and DALL-E produce images that look like plans but don’t follow real architectural logic. For professional use, specialized tools are the right choice.

Why do architects use Nano Banana?

Because of its precise instruction-following during image editing. It preserves geometry and layout while applying targeted changes — material swaps, adding elements, adjusting time of day — far better than most image models. This makes it useful for iterative concept refinement where you want to evolve a design rather than start over.

How many words should an architectural prompt be?

Most effective prompts are 40-70 words. Longer prompts dilute the model’s focus. Shorter prompts leave too much open. The right balance is specific enough to constrain the output but concise enough that each word does work.

Should I use reference images or just text?

Reference images help a lot, especially for establishing aesthetic direction. Use them when you have a specific look in mind and can’t fully describe it in words. Use text-only when you’re exploring freely or want maximum variety in results.

What’s the best tool for iterating on a concept I already have?

Nano Banana excels at iterative edits on a single image. Nuit layers an architecture-specific workflow on top of image-to-image iteration, preserving project context across exterior, plan, and interior generations rather than just editing one render at a time.

Can I copy these prompts directly?

Yes. The 30 prompts above are written to be copied and adapted. Change the details — site, materials, dimensions, style — to match your project. The structure is what does the work.

Try your best prompt in Nuit — 10 free generations, no card required. Paste any of the 30 prompts above and see the result in under 30 seconds. Start prompting →

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