Not a tool, but a category
It’s not simply about new platforms for building sites, but about a change in approach. These tools – what we can call Prompt-based website generators – they allow you to obtain a functioning site starting from a textual description. We no longer start from an empty page, but from an already structured proposal: layout, contents, visual hierarchies. From then on we work in iterations, produce alternatives, and progressively correct.
For those who design, it is a familiar logic. The technical construction takes a back seat; the ability to precisely describe what you want to achieve becomes central.
A concrete example: Lovable
Among the platforms working in this direction, Lovable it is one of the most accessible for those without a technical background. The operation is direct: write a prompt – for example “a portfolio for an architecture studio with minimalist language” or “a site dedicated to a single residential project” – and the system returns a first complete version, with structure, layout, texts and placeholder images.
From there you can intervene by directly modifying the elements or continue working via prompts, progressively refining the result. You don’t build the site piece by piece: you start from an already coherent configuration and transform it.
However, an honest clarification is worth making: the control over the final result is real, but it requires patience and well-constructed prompts. The finer changes – typography, spacing, graphic details – can take several tries before going in the right direction. The system works best when you can precisely describe what you want, not when you are groping around.
Access is via browser, without installation. The platform works with a free daily credit system; sites are automatically published with a domain included. With a paid plan you can connect a custom domain and work on multiple projects in parallel.
Where it really works
Think of a studio that is completing the project of a private residence and wants something to send to the client before the final meeting: not a Powerpoint presentation, but a small web page with images of the project, a brief description and a contact. With these tools, that page can be had in less than an hour – structured, published, reachable from a link.
Beyond the novelty effect, the point is to understand where these tools find a real place in study practice. Some situations in which they work well: temporary portfolios for applications or selections, project microsites for quick presentations to clients, educational activities or workshops where output needs to be produced quickly, visual identity tests before starting a more structured development.
They do not replace a complete communication project, nor a tailor-made site. But they occupy an intermediate space that often remains uncovered.
What really changes
More than the tool itself, the nature of the work required changes. The technical construction of the site loses centrality. What matters is knowing how to precisely describe what you want, selecting between alternatives, and iterating quickly. In this sense, designing a site comes closer and closer to working on a concept: a sequence of attempts, adjustments, progressive decisions.
It is a subtle shift, but not trivial – especially for those who are already used to thinking in this way.
To close
These platforms are evolving rapidly. It’s worth trying them out first-hand, even just to understand how much control they allow and where they get stuck. If you have one of those sites that has been down for months, it might be a good time to blow the dust off the idea, and see what happens in twenty minutes.
The weekly column “Architectural Prompting” is edited by experts Luciana Mastrolia, Giovanna Panucci and Andrea Tinazzo
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