A Schedule for Name/Number/Area AND Parking Calculator

[mnilsen]

Windows XP Pro
Architectural Desktop 2006

I am using spaces with the RoomObjects and SpaceObjects Property Set Definitions to create schedules that list and total retail spaces in our projects (malls, mixed-use, etc. type projects). I want to know if I can set up a Property Set Definition or Formula Property definition (or something of this nature) that will allow me to have the schedule style that calculates the parking required per space (i.e. retail may park at 4.5 spaces per 1,000 SF).

In doing this, I would be able to have columns in my schedule table for Space, Name, Area, and Parking Required (i.e. 100 / Joe's Retail Store / 10,450 SF / 48 spaces).

I am not a novice, but by no means an expert. It seems like this should be a rather simple task, but I have not been able to figure it out.

Any help or direction is greatly appreciated.

-Michael Nilsen

[dkoch]

Windows XP Pro
Architectural Desktop 2006

I am using spaces with the RoomObjects and SpaceObjects Property Set Definitions to create schedules that list and total retail spaces in our projects (malls, mixed-use, etc. type projects). I want to know if I can set up a Property Set Definition or Formula Property definition (or something of this nature) that will allow me to have the schedule style that calculates the parking required per space (i.e. retail may park at 4.5 spaces per 1,000 SF).

In doing this, I would be able to have columns in my schedule table for Space, Name, Area, and Parking Required (i.e. 100 / Joe's Retail Store / 10,450 SF / 48 spaces).

I am not a novice, but by no means an expert. It seems like this should be a rather simple task, but I have not been able to figure it out.

Any help or direction is greatly appreciated.

-Michael NilsenSounds like a job for a Formula property, in conjunction with the Base Area automatic property. I will assume that the Base Area of your areas is the value you need for you calculation - if there is some other manipulation of that value needed, then one or more additional Formula properties may be needed. You do not mention whether the number of spaces per unit of area ever varies from the stated 4.5 spaces/1000 SF, but I will assume that different types of spaces could have different requirements [retail vs restaurant vs movie theater, etc], but that all can be expressed in terms of spaces per 1000 SF. I will also assume that you have different Space Styles for each type of space [at least one for each different parking rate].

Given the above, it makes sense to include the parking rate property in a style-based Property Set Definition, so that you can assign the value once for each Space Style, rather than for each individual space. The attached file has a sample file that does something close to what you want, based on my assumptions.

Note that I created a new BaseAreaUnformatted property in the RoomStyles PSD, which uses the same automatic properties as the SpaceObjects:BaseArea PSD, but does not apply a Property Data Format that appends a text suffix, like the Area PDF. This is key for getting your formula to be able to do math, as it will interpret 50.00 SF as a string and multiplication or division will fail. For the same reason, the RoomStyles:ParkingRate manual property, set to be a Real number, uses the Standard PDF so it will remain a numeric value when read in a formula. I tossed in the RoomStyles:ParkingRateFormatted property, with a custom PDF, which is a Formula property that passes through the RoomStyles:ParkingRate property and adds " SPACES/1000 SF" should you ever need to show that value in a schedule or a schedule tag and you want the units shown with the number.

ParkingCalculationObjects:ParkingSpaces is the Formula property that does the math. A custom PDF was assigned to this property, appending " SPACES" to the calculated result.

Depending upon your needs, this all can be made more flexible and/or complicated. If some space types have a different means of calculating parking requirements, you could add properties to hold values and do calculations and then have a formula property that would determine which value applied to a given space and pass that through. In that case, you would not want to apply a PDF with a suffix to any intermediate result formulas, just to the final one.

Take a look at the attached and post back with any questions. I go on vacation on Monday, but there are others out there who can help you should I be out when an issue arises. You may also want to dig into the AUGI ATP archives and find the class materials for ATP071, from April 2005. You can find links to other scheduling resources in this blog article (http://architects-desktop.blogspot.com/2006/08/adt-schedule-feature-resources.html).

Note also that the space styles, area settings and parking rates assigned [save the 4.5 spaces / 1000 SF you mentioned] are all totally bogus and made up by me for example purposes only and should not be used in a real project.

[mnilsen]

Excellent! That's incredible.

Thanks for the help - it looks like this will get me on the right track. Sending the file really helped because I was then able to see how to create the property sets/definitions, etc.

I will let you know more once I have a chance to dig into it more.

I can't thank you enough.