Patrick Chopson – Cove Architecture Uses AI to Rethink Building Design. Photo provided by Cove Architecture. NEW ORLEANS – Patrick Chopson, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Cove Architecture, has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of architecture, technology and sustainable design. Chopson said the Atlanta-based firm was founded in 2017 on
Patrick Chopson - Cove Architecture Uses AI to Rethink Building Design. Photo provided by Cove Architecture.
NEW ORLEANS – Patrick Chopson, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Cove Architecture, has spent more than two decades working at the intersection of architecture, technology and sustainable design.
Chopson said the Atlanta-based firm was founded in 2017 on the idea that artificial intelligence could help architects analyze complex building systems more efficiently while improving sustainability and long-term building performance.
“There’s a saying: ‘Only God can watch all the sparrows.’ Architects can’t evaluate all the different combinations of things like the structure, glass and roof systems,” said Chopson.
Chopson said AI allows Cove to rapidly analyze thousands of potential design combinations and identify modifications that improve building performance. This gives its architects more time to focus on the artistic side of design.
And there’s a practical impact, too. According to Chopson, even small adjustments to materials or systems identified by AI can significantly reduce costs and carbon emissions. “AI can suggest a small change to something we were going to do,” he said, “and can result in something like a 40% reduction in carbon emissions.”
Efficient AI-Driven Design
Cove primarily works with developers and property owners on multifamily and mixed-use developments, hospitality projects, adaptive reuse and commercial and industrial campuses.
Although Cove is headquartered in Atlanta, Chopson is licensed to practice in most states, including Louisiana. The company focuses heavily on sustainable design, energy modeling and resilience planning, treating sustainability as an integrated part of the design process rather than a separate add-on.
The company’s technology-driven approach helped Cove stand out early in its growth. Chopson said the firm began by creating analysis scripts and demonstrating how data-driven design could improve efficiency and sustainability, helping attract investors as the company expanded its AI-driven platform. Cove has raised $36.5 million to date.
Cove describes its approach internally as using “data as a design tool,” with AI and modeling intended to support architects’ decision-making rather than replace it.
Cove - Building for Resilience
Much of Chopson’s recent work has centered on how rising insurance costs and climate risk are reshaping real estate development decisions.
“The cost of insurance continues to rise, not on an inflation-adjusted basis but on a risk-adjusted basis and the risks are going up so fast the assessments are now done on a per building basis more and more,” said Chopson. “Instead of looking at the zip code or census track, now insurers look at whether a particular building is going to survive the next event.”
Chopson said this has prompted developers to place greater emphasis on specific design choices, including roof systems, window protections, flood mitigation measures and backup power capabilities, much earlier in the planning process. He said developers are increasingly evaluating resiliency investments upfront because stronger buildings can reduce insurance, maintenance and recovery costs over time, a shift he said has accelerated significantly over the past five to six years.
Stronger building codes can also reduce overall insurance risk even in hurricane-prone areas. “Miami has very high hurricane risk but, because they raised the minimum code so high, the actual per-dollar risk is less than someplace like Savannah, Georgia,” Chopson said.
Chopson pointed to higher wind-rated roofing systems and impact-rated windows with metal flashing among the resilience measures becoming more common in new projects.
Advances in battery storage technology are also changing how some projects approach emergency power planning. Chopson said some developers are beginning to replace or supplement traditional generators with battery systems capable of providing backup power during outages.
He said the systems can improve resilience while reducing long-term operating and maintenance costs, particularly with a federal tax credit that still covers up to 30% of eligible battery installation expenses.
According to Chopson, the combination of rising climate risk, insurance pressures and advances in building technology is forcing developers to think differently about long-term building performance and resilience.
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