Using Spaces for Zoning and Building Code analysis

[Samuel Derenboim]

Hi Everyone,

 

Just curious, wanted to get a consensus on the forum, are there many here that use Vectorworks parametric capabilities to do zoning analysis and building code analysis as a tabulated resource? or do people generally do them by hand?

 

The reason I'm asking this question is because the tools vectorworks provides, seem to me, are unlike any other in terms of the tools provided for custom parametric integration (i.e. custom records/fields via simple geometry or the like). I have been using these features for zoning, building code and energy code independently for the past 3 years, and i have found alot of benefits as well as a few difficulties in using systemic parametric integration for code or zoning analysis.

 

For example, one of the difficulties i've faced is the way New York jurisdictions requires us to calculate zoning areas vs building code areas. Zoning areas, they ask us to provide area diagrams that are simple in geometry (i.e. squares, rectangles, trapezoids, etc..). If you have a few tenants, or many, rather than calculating each area and each space independently, one can use large geometric areas to describe a floor plate. I have used this for general zoning calculation.

 

When analyzing for building code, however, it would be recommended to show every tenant space for analysis purposes. The building code isn't as closely monitored as zoning in terms of areas is in NYC, but they should be equal in area to avoid notice in deviations.

 

Because larger buildings, especially with tenant build-outs can be asked by the client, having to separate building code analysis and zoning could prove to be tricky due to the different methods of analyzing the information simultaneously. That is the reason why I have separated them into separate area categories. Getting the floor plates to equal can sometimes be a pain because there can sometimes be elements that do not match, and troubleshooting the problems can be tedious. So I thought id bring up the question to the trusty vectorworks community, see if anyone else have found interesting techniques to perhaps marry the two components?

 

Out of curiosity, has anyone tinkered with analyzing code and / or zoning using Vectorworks? what are you experiences like?

Edited March 23, 2020 by Samuel Derenboim