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What is the Courtyard Aspect Ratio and How is it Adjusted?

courtyard-creation-by-distance

The Building layer contains a parameter called Courtyard that can be toggled between Height Aspect Ratio and Distance

Height Aspect Ratio

Example Below: The building is 100' tall. The Height Aspect Ratio  is set to 0.5, therefore we are allowing a minimum courtyard dimension of 50' (actual distance is 65'-4")

But if the value is increase to 1.0, we would require 100' of courtyard:

Increasing the value to 3.00 would open the building up completely

The lower the value, the more enclosed a building will be.

The higher the value, the more open the building solves.

Distance

The Distance option is explained in the video below:

 

When Distance is selected, courtyard size is controlled by explicit minimum dimensions rather than by a ratio tied to building height. This decouples the courtyard from the height of the building, giving you direct control over how large or small the courtyard opening will be.

The Distance option exposes the following parameters:

Minimum distance X — Sets the minimum courtyard opening along the X axis (the shorter dimension of the building footprint). Increasing this value widens the courtyard; decreasing it allows the building to close in tighter.

Minimum distance Y — Sets the minimum courtyard opening along the Y axis (the longer dimension of the building footprint). Increasing this value stretches the courtyard lengthwise.

Offset X — Shifts the courtyard position along the X axis. Use this to push the courtyard left or right within the building footprint.

Offset Y — Shifts the courtyard position along the Y axis. Use this to push the courtyard up or down within the building footprint.

Orientation Axis — Click change to flip which axis is treated as X and which is treated as Y.

Reset — Returns all Distance values back to their defaults.

To adjust the courtyard using Distance:

  1. Select the Building layer in the Nav-Tree.
  2. Scroll down to the Courtyards section in the Parameters panel.
  3. Select the Distance radio button.
  4. Adjust Minimum distance X and Minimum distance Y to set the desired courtyard dimensions. The building will regenerate in Canvas as values change.
  5. If needed, use Offset X and Offset Y to reposition the courtyard within the building footprint.

Decoupling courtyard size from building height enables significantly more building configurations while maintaining project requirements. This results in improved performance from generative design in high-density solves.