Does the number of floors have any positive effect in general?

The more floors there are, the more area there is to rent and obtain income. However, more floors also means more weight and more dead loads. There is a maximum and minimum number of floor areas. Winning the competition often denotes the need for the maximum floors to get the most rentable income. Different factors […]

The building footprint is defined as the maximum floor plan area projected onto the base plate in square inches. Does this mean all the floors or just the first floor?

Taking whichever floor has the largest area when looking from above – this is the building footprint.

Our team is trying to find out if there’s a specific use for the building, as last year’s official rules included what the client wanted each side of the building/sky bridges to be used for (ie. retail, residential, commercial) whereas this year’s official rules don’t specifically outline a floor/building program (or any that we can find).

It’s left for the architects of each team to decide the purpose of different parts of the building along its height or the building as a whole. Since building owners may desire flexible usage, the purposes might change over time, resulting in a shift in mass. Thus, the teams are tasked with architecturally designing the […]

Is it acceptable if the land you provide appears to be slightly sloped, even though the regulations specify that it should be flat?

Assume it is flat according to the Official Rules.

If the site is not perfectly aligned with the cardinal points and our building needs to be tested for perfect alignment with specific cardinal points, should we also consider this aspect in the layout of the construction? Is there an issue if the buildings do not adhere to the rectangular pattern of the city, regarding the architectural aspect?

For testing purposes, please use cardinal points that match those in Figure 8 of the Design Guide.