How to facilitate informed decisions with Area & Unit Mix Data Exports from Forma using Dynamo

[#1]

Dynamo, a powerful visual programming tool used by many architects and engineers, can be harnessed to export relevant area metrics for buildings and unit mix percentages. Learn how you can leverage Dynamo scripts in conjunction with Forma to enhance your analytics and dashboarding capabilities for more insightful building data management.

Goals

• Enhance Building Analysis with Dynamo: Use Dynamo to export comprehensive building metrics, enabling more detailed and accurate architectural analysis.
• Optimize Unit Mix Planning: Analyze unit mix percentages for buildings, ensuring your proposals are data-driven and optimized for efficiency and profitability.
• Streamline Reporting and Dashboarding: Export data to Excel from Forma using Dynamo, facilitating seamless integration with your reporting and dashboarding tools for more insightful decision-making and effective presentations.

By focusing on these goals, you'll be able to harness the full potential of Dynamo to improve your building data management, resulting in more informed decisions and better project outcomes.

Type of Projects: Suitable during early or concept design phase for residential/commercial projects typologies

Prerequisite: 

• Latest Dynamo Sandbox or Revit 2024
• Dynamo player for Forma extension
• DynamoForma Beta package for Dynamo sandbox or Revit Dynamo
• Create model or proposal with Buildings
• Creation of functions for Building as per typologies

Important Features:

• Use of Forma's building tool to generate buildings
• Using Forma's Area settings to generate various building functions such as Residential, Commercial, Office, Mixed Use, etc. (Note: each building needs to have unique function name)
• Using Forma's area settings to adjust GIA (Gross Internal Area), NIA (Net Internal Area) factors for buildings
• Using Forma's Dynamo Player for Forma Extension to run Dynamo Script

Workflow steps

Step1: Create Buildings and Assign Functions in Forma for your proposals

1. Create buildings 
2.  Assign unique function to each building 

Step2:  Dynamo Player in Forma

1. Open Dynamo Sandbox or Revit dynamo in your system first
2. From extensions tab add Dynamo Player to the project
3. launch the Dynamo player in Forma
4. specify the local location where the dynamo scripts are saved

Step3: Running Dynamo scripts in Forma

1. Select from the folder directory the script to be run
2. Select the buildings 
3. Specify sheet name for excel export
4. Select building metrics
5. Specify the local path to save the excel file
6. Specify a name for the file to be saved in the location
7. Specify 1BD,2BD,3BD unit areas
8. Specify 1bd,2BD,3BD percentage unit mix for the buildings
9. Run the script 

Step4: Output from Forma

1. The script might take some time to run, please be patient.
2. Once done, review the output in the excel file.
3. save and close the excel.
4. Rerun script for same proposal or another proposal with required changes area or unit mix values.

The video below showcases the above workflow in action, please view the video for better clarity & understanding.

Conclusion

• The exported area and unit mix data provide detailed insights that support more informed and strategic decisions, enhancing overall business outcomes.
• By integrating comprehensive area and unit mix metrics into dashboards, stakeholders can visualize and analyze data more effectively, leading to quicker and more accurate assessments.
• Access to precise area and unit mix data simplifies the planning and forecasting processes, enabling more efficient resource allocation and project management.