The rule set translates office tower core planning into a repeatable sequence that starts from a core boundary and progressively assigns circulation and vertical systems. It is designed to generate consistent alternatives while keeping key constraints legible, such as corridor hierarchy, elevator banking, and adjacency rules for service and wet functions.
Sequence
- Establish the core zone as a derived boundary, typically set 20-30% t inside the facade or floor plate edge.
- Draw the primary corridor lines that structure circulation and set up later placement rules.
- Populate the core boundary with a grid that becomes the spatial scaffold for shafts and rooms.
- Place passenger elevator shafts along the corridor with one-sided or two-sided configurations and bank logic for vertical zoning.
- Use edge detection logic so service elevators avoid opening directly into primary public areas when possible.
- Prioritize corner placement, then place stairs along feasible core edges when corner space is insufficient.
- Place restrooms with a preference to open onto secondary corridors, then relax constraints toward public adjacency if required.
- The system supports find and replace changes, including switching corridor sidedness for elevators and converting selected elevator segments into storage or other functions when service patterns change.
The rule set includes controls for detail level and for key configuration choices, including one-sided versus two-sided elevator layouts, corridor occupancy, stair count and placement tendencies, and restroom quantity.
Floor-to-floor Change
The precedent layouts show that tower cores are not static. Ground floors and upper floors often reorganize circulation and support space, and the same building can shift its core logic across different floor sections. This is documented directly in the precedent sheet where cores are compared by ground versus upper floor conditions and by explicit “change of floor section” diagrams.
In the rule set, this floor-to-floor variability is handled by separating what should remain stable from what can adapt. The passenger elevator shaft set can be treated as fixed across floors, while elevator banks are organized by vertical zones, which matches how towers typically segment service by building height. At the same time, the grammar allows core complexity to increase with additional grid rows and columns, enabling more elevators, service elevator additions, more stairs, and wet stacks that require vertical connections.
This set of scripts supports sectional transitions without rebuilding the whole core from scratch. It can reposition corridors, switch corridor hierarchy, and adjust service relationships as the tower shifts between floor sections. When a zone no longer needs certain elevator service, the same find and replace logic can convert targeted elevator segments into storage or other functions, which is a direct mechanism for handling transfer floors or program shifts between tower sections.