You don’t have to be a Barbie Girl to live in this Barbie World.
Impressive new AI software has transformed some of the world’s most iconic buildings into the house of Barbie’s dreams – and you can do the same to your own home too.
The programme, which was developed by the UK’s leading residential architects, Resi, is actually meant to allow users to see what their own interiors look like when transformed into different design styles.
But in celebration of the success of summer blockbuster Barbie the team at Resi added a Barbie option to the tool, which is named Scrapbook.
The movie has made more that $1billion at the worldwide box office, and become the highest grossing movie of all time by a female director, and the second highest grossing of the year.
Buckingham Palace has been given a makeover fit for a Queen, the House of Commons has plush new turquoise upholstery, and the Palace of Westminster has its own private speedboat.
St Paul’s Cathedral has had a paint job, while London’s iconic red buses look just as fabulous in pink.
The White House has been given its own pool in the front garden, while the Oval Office even features its own President Biden Barbie.
Nic Yeeles, Vice President of Product and Design at Resi, said: “We’d been experimenting with some new AI techniques to help give homeowners inspiration on how to renovate their homes.
“Being the UK’s largest residential architectural designers means we had thousands of completed renovations to train the AI model on.
“As a joke, our Chief Technical Officer experimented with turning a beautiful home into all sorts of weird and wonderful houses. There was something fascinating and addictive about seeing a photo of your very own home transform into another reality. “So when the Barbie hysteria began to spread, naturally we all became intrigued to see what our homes would look like as a pink palace. So we spent the weekend quickly hacking together a prototype and released the temporary Barbie-style filter to the world.
“What really caught us off guard was when people started trying to use the filter whilst in restaurants, and realising that if the photos included people it would turn them into Barbie’s, too! A happy and hilarious accident.
“When Scrapbook—Resi’s renovation inspiration tool—isn’t being used for comical effect, it’s about genuinely helping homeowners reimagine their perfect space”.
The company wanted to kill the habit of endless scrolling on platforms like Pinterest for the perfect ideas in three different ways, and made the process as simple as possible.
First, if you have an idea for a house extension, you can simply sketch your idea on a piece of paper, snap a picture, then magically turn it into a photo-realistic image.
Secondly, if you’re already happy with your layout but want to reimagine the interior design, simply snap and upload a picture of your room, then apply different style filters to transform the look of your space in seconds.
And thirdly if you’re not sure where to start, browse the Scrapbook inspiration board to see nothing but real-life extensions and renovation projects designed by the UK’s leading architectural designers.
Resi CEO Alex Depledge said: “People who use our app are always impressed at seeing their own homes transformed, and it’s amazing to see that same effect with interiors we are all familiar with.
“Barbie has really caught everyone’s imagination and so it was great fun seeing these places getting the Barbiecore treatment.
“While we all think these pics look great, we sadly haven’t had any calls yet from Westminster or the King yet to make them a reality.
“But who knows, maybe there are some real-life Barbies and Kens out there just waiting for a dream house — or, like the movie, a Mojo Dojo Casa House — of their own.
“The great thing about the Scrapbook is how easy it is to use, and even if pink isn’t your thing, there are endless possibilities to try when it comes to getting really good predictions of how a certain design aesthetic could look.
“By using just a photo, or even just a simple sketch, you can get really good results.
“It has been so helpful to Resi and to our customers in making sure when it does come to construction, everyone is on the same page about how amazing the final results will be.”
To have a play with the Scrapbook tool yourself, visit resi.co.uk/scrapbook
