Creating a Massing Model

The Massing Model tool creates a building shell for illustrative purposes. This is an easy way to create a representative or context building when a detailed building is not required. Building models can also be created by drawing a polyline and then selecting the Create Objects from Shapes command (see Creating Objects from Shapes). A massing model can be a site modifier.

To create a massing model:

1. Click the Massing Model tool from the Site Planning tool set.

The Massing Model tool and Campanile tool share the same position on the tool set. Click and hold the mouse on the visible tool to open the Pop-out Tools list and select the desired tool.

2. Click to begin drawing the outline of the building. Continue clicking to draw the shell polyline. Double-click, or click once at the start point, to end the polyline.

 

3. The massing model parameters can be edited from the Object Info palette.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Name	Enter a building name for labeling
Show in Plan	Select whether to show the building roof or footprint in Plan view
Label	Select a text label, if any, for the building shell in Plan view; move the text control point to reposition the text
Height	Specifies the building height (to the eave)
Floor Count	Specifies the number of floors in the building
Floor Usage Data	Opens the Floor Usage Data dialog box, for reporting the usage of massing model floors. This is useful in worksheets, for example, when reporting the usage data of the floors using the ‘FloorUsageData’ parameter (see Worksheet Functions). The number of floors listed depends on the Floor Count (if the Floor Count is reduced later, floor usage data will be lost). By default, each floor’s usage is “Unspecified.” To specify the floor usage data, select each floor and enter the Usage Data for that floor. A semi-colon cannot be used in the usage data, because this is the delimiter for the FloorUsageData function.
Wall Class	To control appearance, select a class to use for wall style attributes from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class
Use Custom Roof from Profile	Select to create a custom roof. The first roof created by the object is used as the default custom roof; if the number of stories has changed, the height of the custom roof needs to be manually adjusted.
Roof Overhang	Specifies the distance the roof extends from the building
Roof Thickness	Indicates the roof thickness
Roof Class	To control appearance, select a class to use for hipped roof style attributes from the list of classes present in the drawing, or create a new class
Pitched Roof	Select to add a roof to the building shell
Eave Style	Select an eave style from the list
Roof Slope	Specifies the roof pitch angle in degrees
Draw Floors	Select to draw floors in the building
Slab Thickness	Specifies the floor thickness
Display Shadow in Plan View	Select to display a shadow based on the roof outline in Top/Plan view. Document-wide settings from the Plan Shadows pane on the Document Preferences dialog box are applied. Click Shadow Settings to open the Document Preferences dialog box to review and edit the settings (see Document Preferences: Plan Shadows Tab).
Use Site Modifiers	Adds a pad and grade limits to the base of the building and allows the building to modify the site model
Use Grade Limits	Uses grade limits to define the site modifier modification area
Grade Limits Off.	Sets the offset of the grade limits from the massing model
Gross Area	Displays the gross area value for all the floors
Vertex parameters	Edits the object vertices. See Editing Vertex-Based Objects.

4. If the massing model is used as a site modifier, the proposed site model requires updating. Select the site model and click Update from the Object Info palette.

Click here for a video tip about this topic (internet access required).

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Creating a Custom Massing Model Roof

Updating a Site Model

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