Guide
Making a figure-ground plan: any city in a few minutes
A figure-ground plan shows every building in black on white, and nothing else. That makes the structure of a city readable: block edges, courtyards, squares, axes. With CAD ATLAS you can have one for any city in a few minutes.
In three steps
- Pick your area on the live map and download it as DWG.
- Fill the building layer black and switch the other layers off.
- Set the scale. 1:5000 is common for a neighbourhood, 1:2000 for the surroundings of a site.
The buildings are closed surfaces and the courtyards stay open, which is what keeps a figure-ground plan readable.
More from the same area
- For an inverted figure-ground plan, swap the fill and the open space becomes the figure.
- For a site plan, switch the streets, trees, water and contour lines back on.
- Add the shadows and it becomes a presentation plan with depth.
- Download the same area in 3D for a massing model with a height for every building.
Good forCompetitions · Urban analysis · Design studio · Presentations · Thesis