topic Re: Forma in Germany useless if they don't integrate so called "Abstandsflächen" in Forma for Design Forum

Forma in Germany useless if they don't integrate so called "Abstandsflächen"

l_mai9JPAK — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 07:12:10 GMT

Hello Forma developer,

we would like to use Forma more often then the current app we use from your competition. But we can't because there is no tool in Forma to manage "Abstandsflächen". This is a key feature we need in Forma. Otherwise it is useless for our purposes.

Greetings

Lukas Mai

B&O Bau und Projekte GmbH

abstandsflächen - Google Suche

Re: Forma in Germany useless if they don't integrate so called "Abstandsflächen"

jesper.staahl — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 10:10:32 GMT

You'll have to forgive me that my German is non-existent, but Google Translate tells me that "Abstandsflächen" is Clearance Area or Building Setback. Does that resonate with you?

Have you tried the Constraints tool?

I see on Wikipedia, after a quick search, that a common factor used is 0.4H, I assume that this formula is roughly, "A building must be setback (from the property line) to a distance equal to 0.4x building height. Is that correct? I also read that the setback height of roofs is either 1/3rd of the height of roof surfaces with a pitch of up to 70° (so sloped roofs); for pitches greater than 70°, the full height is added. And that the minimum setback should be 3m.

With these rules in mind, you can use the Constraints tool to illustrate your setback and height constraints in order to have a volume reference to design with as a reference. Here is a quick demo!

We'd love to hear more about your needs and feedback, so please keep them coming!

PS: The constraint tool also allows for sloped setbacks like you'll find in other regulations around the world, for example, in New York.

(view in My Videos)

Re: Forma in Germany useless if they don't integrate so called "Abstandsflächen"

l_mai9JPAK — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 10:17:54 GMT

Hello Jesper,

thank you for your quick answer. The distance between buildings is differently regulated in Germany than it is in NY. Your building casts a shadow that is 0,4 x your buildings height. This shadow shall not go beyond your site.

Re: Forma in Germany useless if they don't integrate so called "Abstandsflächen"

l_mai9JPAK — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 10:19:08 GMT

for example
Berechnung von Abstandsflächen

Re: Forma in Germany useless if they don't integrate so called "Abstandsflächen"

jesper.staahl — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 11:54:04 GMT

Thanks for the link, I think I can better visualize how you apply the offset now, despite me still struggling with the German.

Let me see if I can't use the Constraints tool to better illustrate your example again. Let me know if I understand it correctly now?

(view in My Videos)

So, as I mentioned in the video, I'll write a little about how automations related to this comes into reality. Forma is a global tool, and that means that the tools we build needs to be universal before they become localized and specialized. Often when a specific market, for example Germany, or Norway, requires something tailored to fit the specific regulations of that specific area, someone will have to do some tailoring to fit. As you said setback rules are different between Germany, and New York, and Oslo, and Singapore and and and...

An example of a very specific localization is the Outdoor Area Analysis tool by Symetri, which very specifically uses the base tools of Forma (zones, outdoor areas, buildings) and the built-in AI-powered analysis capabilities (sun hours, noise analysis) to build a specific Outdoor Area Analysis, MFUA, that calculates "how much sun-lit outdoor area per m2 of apartment, with outdoor area that must be offset from building facades by 3m AND must be exposed to less than 55dbA of road noise ". Very specific indeed. I'm telling you this mostly to illustrate the complexity of tailoring to local regulations.

So the general idea here, and the path forward, is that Forma offers the sandbox, the AI-powered analysis tools, the contextual data and modelling tools, and the extensibility to build whatever is needed on top of this platform.

How would this play out in your specific use case of the "Abstandsflächen"? (Steps from manual to automatically described in ascending order)

- Step 1: You could do it manually for your projects, like I demonstrated in the above videos. You've got the tools to build a "ruler" that will help you keep the correct setback distance from site limits.

- Step 2: You could use the visual programming language of Dynamo, which is connected to Forma, to build a script that makes "Abstandsflächen" from buildings automatically. It could even highlight and warn you whenever you are breaking the setback rules. This requires some basic Dynamo knowledge, but it's not too complex. In fact, I'll post it as a fun little challenge for our Dynamo enthusiast group internally and see if anyone is bored in Friday afternoon and wants to do a script (no promises though)

- Step 3: Would be that someone, an extension builder, sees an opportunity to create an extension for Forma for the German market that solves this specific need. We are seeing that forward-leaning Autodesk Partners and Software Vendors, like Symetri and the likes, have an appetite for tailoring the Forma Site Design offering to local markets. But we are also seeing impassioned individuals like yourself who see a gap in the market, building solutions like this for Forma. Either internally for their company, or for their personal use, or even to sell as an offering directly through Forma.

Hope that helps, and again thanks for the feedback (and the puzzle!)