Giraffe geometries go 3D with Properties. Levels, Floor to Floor, and Height are important attributes to control Buildings and other 3D objects in your projects.
Levels & Floor to Floor
Buildings are made of multiple floors. Levels are also known as storeys/stories, decks, or levels. In Giraffe, we call building floors Levels.
Each Level also has a height. The height of a level might be called the deck height, storey/story height, floor height, or level height. In Giraffe, we call the distance between Levels the Floor to Floor.
For Buildings in Giraffe, the overall height is determined by the number of Levels multiplied by the Floor to Floor.
Levels and Floor to Floor are part of the Built Form category.
Add Levels
With a geometry selected, input a number of Levels in the properties palette on the left.
The building height will increase or decrease based on the number of levels.
Hint: You can also use the hotkey Q to add levels and A to remove levels.
Change Floor to Floor
With a geometry selected, override the Floor to Floor by inputting a new value in the properties palette to the left.
You may also want to edit the Usage to update all buildings with the same type.
Height
The Height property overrides Floor to Floor & Levels to make a geometry a specific height.
Height adjusts the geometry's total volumetric height - from its base to its top.
Height is recommend for non-building geometries because Height overrides Floor to Floor and Levels. When Height is set, Building metrics like Gross Floor Area cannot be calculated (because the number of levels is unknown). Additionally, when the Height property is overridden, buildings may not appear in Urban Metrics. This is because Urban Metrics relies on the Floor-to-Floor settings and the number of levels to determine whether a geometry qualifies as a building.
Height is great for generic geometries where the building metrics are irrelevant - think landscape, context, or decorative elements. However, note that using Height for generic geometries will exclude them from Urban Metrics calculations, as these rely on Floor-to-Floor and levels to define buildings.
To override level and floor to floor, input a Height in the Height property of the properties palette in the left.
When to Use Floor to Floor & Levels vs Height
Simply, if it's a building - you need to use Floor to Floor and Levels. This is because important building metrics are calculated using Levels.
Use Height if the mass is simply a volume and you do not need building metrics. If you input a Height, the levels are no longer counted and the mass no longer behaves as a building analytically.