Use this when you want to generate an apartment building massing from a single line within a flow, for example quickly producing a residential building form.
Category: Dendrogram
Kind: Operation
Description: Dendrogram node for apartment.
Inputs
Name | Abbreviation | Type | Access | Description |
Input | I | Feature | Item | The input data (must be a line) |
Transform | T | Object | Item | Transform controls (overridden by individual parameters) |
Outputs
Name | Abbreviation | Type | Access | Description |
Features | F[] | List | Item | The list of main features (dwellings, core, corridor, and balcony) |
Apartment | A | Object | Item | Categorized Apartment Features |
How to:
Add the apartment node
Feed in a feature to the F input
The feature must be a line
Add the apartment transform
Click “Edit Defaults” to set the starting values for the flow
Edit the settings in the Properties Palette
Settings
Size
Set corridor width
Set depth of the right and left sides independently
Set the start and end depth
Dwellings
Dwellings are connected to a Usage.
It is recommended that Dwelling usages include the Dwelling Count (Input) and Dwellings per Level on Usages intended to be used as Units in the apartment flow
Adjust the unit mix using the sliders
Add another Unit by selecting a usage from the list. Click Add.
Set your dwelling requirements, just like you would in the Usages editor
Adjust the unit size
Adjust the mix with inputs or slider
Set the Balcony alignment, length, and offsets. (Set apartment depth in next step below)
Delete a unit by clicking the bin
Balcony
Set the balcony alignment, length, start or end offsets individually for each unit type
Set the external and internal offsets
Toggle endcap or split
Set a minimum unit width
The Apartment node sets units by area, so a unit's width depends on its area and the building depth. To set a minimum width for each unit type, build the flow with the Skeleton Editor and Subdivide Rectangles nodes instead. In Subdivide Rectangles, set Mode to width, enter each dwelling's minimum width, and turn on Stretch.
How endcaps work
An endcap is the apartment at an open end of the building line. Giraffe places the endcap past the end of the line, so the building finishes beyond the point you drew. Plan for this when the building has to fit inside a site, a setback, or a set footprint.
The endcap extends past the line by the Start Depth at the line's first point and by the End Depth at its last point. It spans the full width of the building: the left side, the corridor, and the right side.
Giraffe adds an endcap only at an open end. An end that joins another line, like a corner, does not get one.
Giraffe also adds an endcap only when the Start Depth or End Depth is more than half the Corridor Width. At half the Corridor Width or less, Giraffe skips that endcap and the building stops square at the end of the line.
Keep an apartment building inside its footprint
The endcaps of an apartment building extend past each open end of the line by the Start Depth and End Depth. To keep the building inside a footprint, use one of these options:
Stop the line short of the footprint edge by the Start Depth at the first point and the End Depth at the last point.
Set Start Depth and End Depth to half the Corridor Width or less. Giraffe then skips the endcaps and the building ends at the line's endpoints.
Advanced Edit Mode
Use shift + a shortcut to enter advanced edit.
Drag large circles on ends or sides to adjust side and end width
Drag smaller circles between units to adjust unit size
Click and drag center of unit to move it
Hold
alt+ click and drag on a smaller circle to add a unit
Click “reset pattern” to revert to automatic solve
Examples
Use different unit mixes on different floors
An Apartment node applies one unit mix to the entire building. To give different floors different mixes, give each group of floors its own Apartment node.
The quickest way is to duplicate the flow:
Copy and paste the apartment geometry in place.
Select the copy and change the unit mix with the sliders in the Properties Palette.
Adjust the levels on each geometry to the correct settings for your design
OR
To keep everything in one flow, use a separate Apartment node and Apartment transform for each unit mix:
Open the flow in the Flow Builder.
Add an Apartment node and an Apartment transform for each unit mix you need.
Edit the transform defaults to Rename each Apartment transform so you can tell the mixes apart, for example "Podium mix" and "Tower mix".
Connect the Read Feature node to the input of every Apartment node.
Connect each Apartment transform to its own Apartment node.
Select each Apartment transform and set its unit mix with the sliders in the Properties Palette.
This takes more setup than duplicating the flow. Later changes then happen in one flow.
Wrap apartments around a courtyard
To wrap apartments around a courtyard, draw the apartment line as a closed shape, like a square or other polygon. End the line back at its first point, or draw it so it crosses itself. Giraffe fills each side with units and leaves the middle open as the courtyard. A line that ends at its first point has no open ends, so it gets no endcaps. A self-intersecting line that extends past the crossing point still has open ends, and those ends get endcaps.
The Apartment node has no setting for the courtyard itself. To set the courtyard's usage parametrically within the flow, like Carpark - Multi-Deck, or to remove the units facing into it, build the flow with the Skeleton Editor and Subdivide Rectangles nodes instead.