Computational Tools
Plan-Pal
A Grasshopper plug-in that generates schematic building models — residential towers, hotels, and offices — from site data and parameters, built as an in-house alternative to commercial feasibility tools.
- Year
- 2024
- Role
- Founder & Developer
- Tools
- Grasshopper · Python
About this project
PlanPal grew out of an internal evaluation of commercial feasibility tools — TestFit and Digital Blue Foam — that couldn't deliver the flexibility and control needed for our real estate development workflows. I proposed building an equivalent directly in Grasshopper: less polished than a commercial web app, but fully transparent, customizable, and tailored to our process.
Using Python as the algorithmic backbone, PlanPal takes site data as input and generates complete schematic building models along with detailed area breakdowns that developers use for early-stage feasibility. The tool remains in active use at NOVU.
components
workflow
examples
