A massing study is a crucial step in the early stages of architectural design, serving as a foundational exploration of form, scale, and spatial relationships. This process involves creating and evaluating various massing options to inform the development of a design concept.

To begin a massing study, architects typically start with simple geometric shapes that represent the overall volume of the building. These shapes can be manipulated and arranged to explore different spatial arrangements, orientations, and proportions. Using Snaptrude, designers can quickly iterate through multiple iterations to test different design ideas. Explore the help section below to learn in-depth how to create masses on Snaptrude.

Topics in this section:

You can draw the boundary of your site easily on Snaptrude.

First go to the 2D view of the first storey. Then, choose the “Draw” tool (L) from the Design toolbar & select “Space” as the object type. Begin drawing a closed loop of the boundary on the design canvas. Lastly, label the space as “Site” by double-clicking on the mass. This will change the material, thickness & level of the mass in a site plan. If you have a CAD drawing or an image, you can import them as a reference & trace it out from there as well. (See how to import CAD or Image.)

You can find the circle tool under the Design tab.

Select draw circle. Click on the point where you want the center of the circle to be. The circle’s radius is visible on the screen as you move your cursor, click again according to the required radius, or for more accuracy enter the numerical value of the radius and press enter.

Draw Circle tool can also be used to model circular spaces and later converted to columns, swimming pools, courtyards, lawns, etc using smart labels. We can draw the circular green spaces in this case for the site.

You get the Object Properties panel on the right-hand side when you select the object drawn from the Draw circle. This gives all the information related to the circular space drawn.