Spacemakers

Spacemakers is a generative design platform for urban planning and architecture that uses computational simulation to explore thousands of design alternatives and evaluate them automatically against specific goals. Instead of a designer manually sketching a few options, the platform parameterizes the design space—site boundaries, zoning, building types, and pedestrian behaviors—and runs simulations to discover viable layouts.

Multi-Agent Simulation at the Core

The engine behind Spacemakers is a multi-agent simulation of pedestrian movement. Rather than using static flow lines or simple heatmaps, the platform simulates thousands of individual agents, each with its own behavior model: walking, stopping, turning, and reacting to obstacles. These agents negotiate for space in real time, and the resulting pedestrian dynamics inform the layout generation.

When the system places buildings and public realm elements, it does so by running these simulations repeatedly. Areas that create congestion or poor pedestrian comfort are penalized, while layouts that facilitate smooth movement are promoted. This creates a feedback loop between agent behavior and spatial form, producing layouts that are inherently responsive to human movement.

Parametric Design and Simulation

Everything in Spacemakers is a parameter, from building heights and setback rules to pedestrian speeds and agent preferences. Users define the rules of the design space, and the generator explores it by iteratively placing elements and evaluating the outcomes.

By parameterizing the design, Spacemakers moves away from a single "best" solution and toward a comprehensive exploration of the design space. Users can compare hundreds of scenarios side by side, seeing how changing a single variable—like a zoning rule or a pedestrian behavior—ripple through the entire site plan. This level of transparency allows designers to understand the trade-offs between different strategies and make evidence-based decisions rather than relying solely on intuition.

The Evaluative Loop

The evaluation system is what makes the platform actionable for planning and architecture. Every generated layout is automatically evaluated against a set of metrics, including:

Pedestrian comfort and accessibility
Sunlight and overshadowing
Regulatory compliance with zoning and setbacks
Building coverage and floor area ratio
Public realm quality

Users can set their own goals and priorities, and the system reports how each layout performs on those metrics. This creates a fast, iterative loop: generate, evaluate, compare, and refine. Designers can quickly identify the most successful strategies and understand exactly why they work, with each design option backed by quantifiable simulation data.

Key Capabilities

Spacemakers is used across the entire design process, from early feasibility to detailed public realm design:

Site analysis and feasibility: Quickly test different zoning rules and building types to see what is achievable on a given site.
Massing and layout generation: Generate thousands of layouts and compare them based on coverage, sunlight, and pedestrian flow.
Pedestrian flow analysis: Simulate realistic pedestrian movement to identify bottlenecks and improve public realm design.
Regulatory checks: Automatically verify that every generated layout complies with setbacks, height limits, and other zoning rules.

Conclusion