About

David Chen (陳天樂) is a computational designer and AI/ML engineer working at the seam of generative AI and design tooling — where computer vision, latent spaces, and interfaces for designers meet. He currently works as an AI/ML Engineer at HILOS Studio in Portland, OR, building and shipping production computer-vision and ML systems for generative design tooling — a role he stepped into full-time in June 2026 after a year as the studio's machine-learning graduate fellow. His path runs from architecture through computational design into machine learning: trained as an architect at Rice University, he moved into parametric design and digital fabrication, then into AI — a trajectory he completed with an MSCD at Carnegie Mellon.

His MSCD thesis, Semantic Canvas, is an interactive latent-space interface for AI-augmented footwear design — a working tool arguing that design software should make AI legible to the designer rather than merely capable. Completed in May 2026, it is being adapted into a CHI 2027 paper, with an abstract at SIGRADI 2026. Earlier research on fiber-based pavilions and ceramic hollow columns was published at IASS 2024.