About twenty years ago, an architecture student at the University of Tehran wrote his senior thesis around a bold idea: software that could automatically generate design documents for school buildings. Al Drams had grown up surrounded by architecture - his parents and grandfather were all practitioners of the craft - but his mind kept drifting toward what technology could do for the field. The only obstacle was that the tools his vision required simply did not exist at the time.

That changed in late 2022. When OpenAI released ChatGPT and demonstrated the power of large language models to a global audience, Drams saw an opening. Within six months of that release, he had translated his old thesis concept into the foundation of a real company. The startup, called Blueprints AI, uses artificial intelligence to generate code-compliant, permit-ready architectural construction blueprints within minutes, starting from nothing more than a 2D sketch or a PDF file.

Blueprints AI was formally incorporated in 2025 in Santa Monica, California, with Drams serving as a co-founder alongside Coco Cao. The company was recently selected as part of the Startup Battlefield 200, a curated cohort of early-stage companies chosen to exhibit at TechCrunch Disrupt, held October 13 through 15 in San Francisco.

Two Decades in the Making

The road to founding Blueprints AI was anything but direct. In the years between writing that college thesis and launching the company, Drams completed both a bachelor's and master's degree in architecture from the University of Tehran. He then pursued doctoral coursework in digital design at the European Graduate School in Switzerland, completing two years of the program before relocating to the United States.

After settling in the U.S., he opened his own architecture practice in 2018, operating under the name Drams Architects. Three years later, following the completion of a general contractor's license, he expanded into construction as well. By most measures, he had built a successful professional life within the industry his family had long called home.

But Drams remained restless. He described a growing sense that running a single firm, even a successful one, would limit how much he could actually change things for the people around him. "I was saying, okay, maybe I can build new projects that change people's life in that area, but it wouldn't be a big impact," he said. "What makes me very excited about technology is the impact, the hours saved, the energy saved of people doing the same thing over and over and over."

Targeting the Repetitive Work That Dominates Architecture

The core problem Blueprints AI is trying to solve is not a shortage of creative talent in architecture - it is a shortage of time. According to Drams, architects spend roughly 80 percent of their working hours on drafting and documentation, leaving only about 20 percent for actual design work. His goal is to invert that ratio entirely.

"It will make better spaces for people because now architects have the time to design," said Drams. "I want to flip that to be 20-80."

The startup is set to unveil its second-generation software at Disrupt this week, which Drams and Cao describe as a meaningful leap beyond the first version. Where the initial product focused on producing architectural construction documents, the upgraded platform allows users to generate blueprints covering every discipline involved in a building project simultaneously - architecture, structural engineering, mechanical systems, electrical, plumbing, and interior design.

Perhaps more significantly, version two introduces the ability to make design changes that automatically propagate across the entire project. A single modification updates all related documents and is cross-referenced against local building codes in real time, a feature the first iteration did not offer. Early customers have already been working with the second-generation software, and Drams said it will be made publicly available this week. A third version is already in development and is expected to incorporate structural analysis and electrical panel design.

Built on Eight Years of Real Project Data

Drams and Cao met at an artificial intelligence conference several years ago. Cao, a data scientist originally from Hong Kong, joined as chief commercial officer and oversees sales and go-to-market strategy. Together, they trained the company's AI models using eight years of approved drawing sets accumulated through Drams' own architecture and construction firm, which continues to operate as a separate business.

That proprietary dataset - drawn from actual permitted projects rather than synthetic or publicly available data - forms the backbone of what the company says distinguishes its output from generic AI-generated documents. The blueprints produced are intended to meet real regulatory standards, not simply approximate them.

Pricing and Target Customers

The first-generation software is currently available on a subscription basis, with monthly pricing ranging from $3,200 to $8,500 depending on the selected plan. Enterprise customers can negotiate custom pricing arrangements. The company is also considering adding a flat-fee option for clients who only need the software for a single project, rather than committing to an ongoing subscription.

Blueprints AI is targeting two distinct customer segments. The first consists of professional firms in architecture, engineering, and design. The second is made up of real estate developers and property owners who want to move projects forward without necessarily engaging a full-service design firm for every stage of the process.

Human Oversight Remains Central

Despite the automation at the heart of the product, Drams and Cao are careful to emphasize that Blueprints AI does not eliminate the role of licensed architects. Under the current workflow, a licensed professional still reviews every set of documents generated by the platform and applies their official seal before those documents are submitted for permitting. The legal and professional responsibility remains with the human practitioner, not the software.

This distinction matters both practically and legally. Permit submissions in most jurisdictions require the signature and stamp of a licensed architect or engineer, and that requirement is not something software can bypass. Blueprints AI is designed to handle the time-consuming production work that precedes that review, not to replace the judgment that follows it.

The company's trajectory reflects a broader shift in how artificial intelligence is being applied to licensed professional fields - not as a substitute for credentialed expertise, but as a tool that compresses the labor-intensive groundwork those experts must complete before they can apply that expertise. Whether that framing holds up as the technology matures will be one of the more closely watched questions in the architecture and construction technology space in the years ahead.