This article walks you through creating a project and setting up your first design, from an empty site to generated massing options.
Create your Design
Before you start
Sustainable Planner runs within a One Click LCA building project and inherits your methodology and project settings. Starting from an existing project is recommended, as it lets Sustainable Planner use your available project data. Make sure your project address is set correctly: if it is, the app navigates directly to your site when you open it.
Create a building project and open Sustainable Planner
1. Create a building project in One Click LCA, or open an existing one.
2. Open Sustainable Planner from within the project.
3. If your project address is set, the app takes you straight to your site. Confirm the specific location and desired model area.
Draw your site perimeter
Draw the perimeter of your site directly on the map.
Tip: You can drag and drop an image, for example a site plan or sketch, to use as a base while drawing your site.
Set your site boundaries
Sustainable Planner's AI automatically detects your street limits where data is available. If it does not, click a boundary to turn it into a street limit.
The generative AI needs at least one public boundary to run. You can then click any other boundary to assign it as a setback or neighbouring boundary.
Choose your design approach
Choose whether you want the generative AI to suggest up to 10 design options, or whether you prefer to draw freely.
Set up your frame type and building typology. If you choose AI-generated buildings, adjust the generation parameters to suit your project. Available typologies include row houses, multi-family, commercial and warehouse, offices, and open site.
Note that typologies guide design intent; they are not regulatory. If a typology setting conflicts with an urban rule, the urban rule always takes precedence.
Set up your zoning rules
Review the zoning rules the AI has already calculated based on available open data. You can:
- Adjust the suggested rules by writing AI commands
- Adjust them manually in the manual tab
- Use basic options, or skip the zoning rules altogether
You can return and edit your choices at any time. To understand where the suggested rules come from and how reliable they are, see how rule estimation works.
What happens next
The generative AI takes a few minutes to produce up to 10 design options optimized for your site, including an underground parking layout if your zoning rules call for one. From there, continue to Editing your design in Sustainable Planner.