“The countless, often regional regulations must be painstakingly gathered by planners for each project,” – this experience in permit planning shaped Davy Karsenty after his architecture studies in Darmstadt. About a year ago, he developed the idea of assigning this task to an AI-driven language system. Led by ChatGPT, these chatbots were just beginning to conquer the internet. Just a few months later, Karsenty’s approach convinced the jury of hessian.ai: He won their AI Startup Competition 2023.

He then delved into the start-up scene, the 29-year-old recounts. He sought a development team, “since software is not my specialty.” With the special prize for early innovations in the TU Ideas Competition 2023 from HIGHEST, awarded as part of the Start-up & Innovation Day 2024, the idea gained momentum: electrical engineers and data scientists Joshua Fischer, Adrian Estevez, and Thewind Mom brought the necessary expertise; business informatics specialist André Baumgart joined the team.

“That’s when we took off,” says Karsenty. They were nominated by hessian.ai for the Hessen Ideas Competition and reached the finals, attracting great interest from both investors and the public. Planners can essentially “talk” with the documents.

Planning Regulations in Minutes Instead of Days

Fischer and Karsenty demonstrate their planning software using the chatbot: it queries the planned building type, usage, and address, then compiles the relevant regulations from federal state and municipality. “This selection usually takes a few days,” Karsenty knows from experience – Archiplan’s system takes about ten minutes. The software provides a digital catalog of the planning regulations for a project. Questions to the chatbot can further narrow or expand the planning scope. For example, the bot responds to a question about escape routes in Hessian schools with four key requirements. Or it compiles individual paragraphs on setback requirements to neighboring properties. All information is also always linked to the source texts.

“Planners can essentially talk with the documents,” explains Fischer. The application retrieves the texts relevant to the question. Probabilities serve as a decision basis and can be better trained with increasing data volumes. Archiplan’s system is very application-oriented and has generated great interest among architecture firms.

Construction Planning with Language AI

The Archiplan team has precisely analyzed its target group: 74,000 planning companies, from freelance architects to large firms, obtain 240,000 building permits annually in Germany – from single-family homes to hospitals to shopping centers. Archiplan can accompany all planning steps from the idea to the start of the tendering process. The 851 nationwide building authorities could also benefit from the language AI-driven platform.

It is a device-independent and user-friendly software, explains Fischer. It contains a specially trained and constantly improving language AI and all necessary and constantly updated legal texts. This also works across authorities, including workplace guidelines or municipality-specific parking regulations. All data remain with the users and are only accessible via German servers.

“By 2025, we want to scale the system, offering it nationwide, and hope for the first revenues,” Karsenty adds.

Prototype and Major Partner

Currently, the Archiplan team is developing a prototype to be applied in collaboration with eight planning companies. Recently, the general planning company Julius Berger approached the start-up – “a confirmation that we are onto something exciting,” Karsenty rejoices. They are planning a strategic partnership with the large engineering firm, as Julius Berger International is an ideal partner due to its advanced digital planning, including 3D representations.

The start-up team is currently self-funded: Karsenty has a project manager position at a graduate school for AI, the three electrical engineers are currently pursuing their doctorates, and Baumgart is habilitating on AI systems at the University of Heidelberg. They develop the software technology and design predominantly from home offices – entirely digital. Currently, collaboration with planning partners in Hesse is in its early stages. By the end of this year, the Archiplan team aims to dive into the start-up scene with funding and partners. “By 2025, we want to scale the system, offering it nationwide, and hope for the first revenues,” Karsenty states. Essentially, Archiplan is also internationally usable once the relevant data are integrated.

According to Karsenty and Fischer, there is hardly any competition: Programs like ChatGPT are not specialized and thus error-prone and never entirely up-to-date. Additionally, their servers are not located in Germany with its correspondingly high security standards. Given the low level of digitalization in the construction industry, they believe the potential is high for the easy-to-use and planning-accelerating system to quickly gain traction.

Start-up: Setting Sail Instead of Lying in a Safe Harbor

The two founders made a very deliberate decision to engage in this endeavor: Fischer had various attractive job offers from the industry last year. “I struggled for a while – money or science? – but the idea of trying something new tempted me.” Developing the app has been a lot of fun, and it continues to be so every day. “You work on yourself,” he says. Karsenty also emphasizes the freedom to shape his own ideas. “I can’t relate to the image of a ‘safe harbor’ – I’d rather set sail!” he asserts with great seriousness.

Although they have only been working on their idea for a year, the two founders have already gained experiences they are eager to share: “Just get started. Talk to people. Try things out. Don’t brood at home. Listen. Stay flexible,” Karsenty lists. Fischer adds that it is important to always be well-prepared for meetings; strategic planning is Karsenty’s strength. “Meeting companies on equal terms” is something he has learned; it’s great to work customer-specific and with their feedback.

In their presentation, the team outlines a detailed plan for which steps they aim to take at what time. The founding is planned for the first quarter of 2025, shortly followed by the beta version of their construction planning tool. Planning is clearly in the blood of the Archiplan team – beyond the architecture field. Their idea promises to significantly simplify construction planning, saving work time and costs and opening up free space for architectural design, with the assurance of planning in compliance with the law. This could make Archiplan a building block to accelerate, reduce the cost of, and revive the declining construction activity in Germany.