Runchat is a design agent and visual canvas for automating creative processes inside Rhino. In this workshop, participants will learn how Runchat can enhance creativity and improve productivity across design tasks from concept development and visualization to design development and project management.

The workshop introduces techniques for working with generative images, including diagramming, visual storytelling, and rendering. Participants will learn how to maintain visual consistency across views and animations, make targeted edits to generated images (such as changing materials or placing designs accurately on site), and package these processes as reusable tools for use in design practice.

In the second half of the workshop, participants will explore how to use Claude AI within Runchat to develop tools for modeling, analysis, and project management. Topics include specifying design requirements for language models, simulating design constraints to explore problem spaces, iterating with screenshots and visual markup instead of code, and building simple web applications that integrate with Rhino.

The workshop concludes with a series of case studies demonstrating how Runchat can connect Rhino with other platforms, such as Google Maps and Google Sheets, and how generative models are beginning to support more complex parts of the design process, including site research and early-stage planning.

Day 1: Generative Communication

• Generating photorealistic renders from Rhino screenshots
• Converting screenshots to stylised drawings and diagrams for visual storytelling
• Producing quick site mockups from Rhino perspective views
• Generating concept design variations from simple massing models
• Automating concept design research using search tools
• Creating photoreal videos by interpolating Rhino screenshots
• Generating and importing 3D models and Gaussian splats for concept design
• Generating and publishing interactive websites, layouts, and presentations

Day 2: Claude AI in Rhino

• Writing, running and debugging Rhino Python scripts with Claude
• Providing visual feedback to improve scripts using screenshots
• Creating custom, reusable design tools from generated Python scripts
• Running generative design models in Grasshopper for automated 3D model and image generation
• Integrating ThreeJS simulations for complex modelling and analysis with Rhino

Day 3: Practice Automation

• Case Study: Using Google Maps in Rhino
• Case Study: Using Google Sheets in Rhino and Grasshopper
• Case Study: Automating Site Research
• Case Study: Drafting Town Planning Applications