Claude Workflows for Architects

You've tried the generic AI tools. They're fine for rewriting an email. But they fall apart when you need something that actually understands your work.

You asked ChatGPT to help with a project narrative or summarize a spec. It gave you confident-sounding nonsense that missed the point. You spent more time fixing the output than you would have spent doing it yourself. So you went back to doing things the way you've always done them.

The problem wasn't you. The problem was the tool. Generic AI doesn't know what a basis of design is. It doesn't know your firm's standards. It doesn't know that "code review" means building code, not software.

Claude is different. It can hold the full context of your project. It can learn your firm's specific standards and apply them automatically. It can run multi-step workflows and produce tools your colleagues can use without touching AI themselves.

But none of that matters if you don't know how to set it up. That's what this program is for.

This isn't a course. It's a toolkit you build one workflow at a time.

Each week, you receive a complete, ready-to-use Claude workflow built for the kind of work architects actually do. A short guide or video walkthrough shows you how to set it up. Then you use it on your real projects that same week.

No theory for the sake of theory. No homework. Just a new tool in your hands every seven days.

The eight workflows follow a structured progression through Claude's capabilities. You start with effective prompting, move into building a project knowledge base, learn to teach Claude your firm's standards, and finish by automating real workflows and building tools your colleagues can use.

Each workflow builds on the one before it. By Week 8, you won't just be using Claude. You'll be the person at your firm who knows how to put it to work for everyone.

Over 60 AEC professionals participated in the first cohort this spring. 

What you'll walk away with

After eight weeks, you'll have:

• A prompt framework that produces useful output on the first try, not generic filler you have to rewrite
• A project knowledge base that turns Claude into a team member who has read every document on your project
• A custom Claude Skill trained on your firm's standards that Claude follows automatically
• Automated workflows for meeting notes, QA reviews, and other tasks that eat your time
• A plugin your team can use, even for colleagues who have never touched AI
• A clear understanding of where Claude is headed and how to lead adoption at your firm

The Transformation

Right now, you open Claude when you think of it. You type a loose prompt, get something back that sounds vaguely professional but misses the point, and close the tab. AI is a novelty, not a tool. Your projects, your standards, your actual workflow haven't changed at all.

After eight weeks, Claude is woven into how you work. Your project documents live in a knowledge base Claude can reference instantly. Your firm's standards are encoded in a Skill that Claude follows without being told. Meeting notes write themselves. QA checks run against your own criteria. And the colleague who keeps asking you how to format a proposal? There's a plugin for that now.

The difference isn't knowing more about AI. It's having eight working systems you built yourself, running on your real projects.

The tool progression

Each week introduces a more powerful layer of Claude's capabilities.

Weeks 1 and 2: Claude.ai Learn to communicate with Claude effectively and produce real output for your projects. This is where most people get stuck, using AI like a search engine instead of a collaborator.

Weeks 3 and 4: Claude Projects Give Claude deep context about your project so it can reference your drawings, specs, standards, and correspondence. This is where Claude stops being a chatbot and starts feeling like a team member.

Week 5: Claude Skills Create a custom Skill that teaches Claude your firm's specific standards. Once built, Claude follows your rules automatically. No more repeating instructions in every conversation.

Weeks 6 and 7: Cowork Build real automations. Meeting notes that produce action items. QA reviews that check deliverables against your standards. The repetitive work starts doing itself.

Week 8: Cowork Plugins Build a tool your colleagues can use without knowing anything about AI. This is how you go from being a Claude user to the person who brings AI to your firm.

Week by week

Week 1: The Project Narrative Generator 

Learn the fundamentals of writing prompts that produce genuinely useful output for architectural work. You'll generate a complete design narrative and understand exactly why it worked.

Week 2: The Scope and Effort Estimator 

Apply your new prompting skills to fee proposals. Feed Claude the RFP, describe your approach, and walk away with a structured draft that starts at 70% rather than 0%.

Week 3: The Project Brain 

Build a Claude Project loaded with your project documents and learn to query it for instant answers. You'll use it to review a spec section for code compliance issues.

Week 4: The Communication Toolkit

Create a set of ready-to-use prompts for client updates, scope pushback emails, RFI responses, meeting prep briefs, and status reports. A system that lives inside your project and is ready when you need it.

Week 5: The Reality Checker

Build an audit Skill that compares what should be true (your spec, standards, or reference document) against what was submitted, then produces a structured first-pass review you can edit and send.

Week 6: The Daily Briefing

Set up Claude Cowork to run on a schedule and deliver a morning briefing pulled from your connected tools (calendar, email, and project sources) before you even open your laptop.

Week 7: The First Responder

Upgrade Cowork from “once a day” to “always on.” Build a high-frequency workflow that monitors for new project activity and triages it into actionable outputs, such as draft responses, comparisons, and next steps.

Week 8: The AI Champion

Step back and turn your personal toolkit into something your whole firm can leverage. Create a Champion Plan and learn the practical path to sharing a single workflow with a colleague—via a live demo, Skill export, or a packaged plugin.

Bonuses

Vibe Coding with Claude Code

A look at building real software tools with AI, no programming experience required. Describe what you want in plain English and watch Claude Code turn it into a working tool.

Connecting Claude to Your Tools with MCP

See a live demo of Claude interacting directly with a Revit model through a Revit MCP server, plus how to connect Claude to Notion, Google Drive, and other tools your firm relies on. This is where AI in AEC is heading.

Live Q&A sessions

Throughout the course, we meet online for live sessions. These sessions are your chance to ask questions, troubleshoot issues, and see workflows customized in real time.

• Orientation — Wednesday, June 17th
• Week 1 — After Workflow 1
• Week 3 — After Workflows 2 and 3
• Week 5 — After Workflows 4 and 5
• Week 7 — After Workflows 6 and 7
• Wrap-up — After Workflow 8

All sessions are recorded if you can't make it live.

Who this is for

You're a mid-career architect. Maybe an associate, a senior associate, or a principal. You've used ChatGPT or Claude a few times, but you know you're barely scratching the surface.

You don't need to be convinced that AI matters. You need someone to hand you the tools and show you how to use them in the context of the work you actually do.

About me

I'm Michael Kilkelly. I hold a Bachelor of Architecture from Norwich University and a Master of Science in Design and Computation from MIT. I spent seven years at Gehry Partners working on projects like 8 Spruce Street in New York and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

For the past 15 years, I've been on the software side of AEC, developing tools and automations for architects and engineers. I'm the founder of ArchSmarter, where I've spent over a decade teaching AEC professionals to work more efficiently with technology. I use Claude every day in my own work. I know what works, what doesn't, and how to translate the technology into language that makes sense for how architects actually practice.

What's included

• 8 complete Claude workflows delivered weekly, each ready to use immediately.
• Written guides and video walkthroughs for all workflows.
• 4 live Q&A sessions (biweekly, recorded for replay)
• One year of access to all course materials after the program ends. 
• Bonus: Vibe Coding with Claude Code
• Bonus: Connecting Claude to Your Tools with MCP (including a live Revit MCP demo)

Details

• Format: 8 weeks, one workflow per week, plus biweekly live Q&A
• Start date: June 17, 2026
• Investment: $597
• Prerequisite: Active Claude Pro subscription ($20/month)

The window is open.

Most architects are still at the "I tried ChatGPT once" stage. Those who move past that, who learn a specific tool deeply enough to build real workflows around it, will have an enormous advantage. Not someday. Right now.

Eight weeks. One new Claude workflow each week. Use it on real work immediately. By the end, you'll have a complete toolkit and the skills to keep building on it.

You've spent years building expertise that makes you great at what you do. Claude doesn't replace that. It multiplies it.