The floor plate methodology is a geometric space-planning system in which every square foot of a building is assigned to a named Key Plan that traces directly to real furniture dimensions. A Key Plan is the smallest unit: a labelled rectangle around one tenant's actual furniture inventory, sized to enclose desks, storage, circulation, and accessibility clearances. A Tile is a composable group of Key Plans — each Tile is exactly one HVAC climate zone. A Floor Plate is the assembly of Tiles plus a Building Core plus Special Tiles; nothing on the floor is left unrepresented. Tile geometry follows the Building Width Calculator and the zone depths per use type; named assembly examples are catalogued in floor-plate tile combinations.

The system is defined in the V12 Methodology (May 2025) and V12 Tear Sheet (January 2026) as "a geometric self-similar aperiodic space-planning system based on furniture and equipment arrangements and circulation versus modular area-per-person progressions."

Three properties qualify the system:

• Aperiodic — Tiles do not repeat on a fixed grid.
• Self-similar — each Tile is exactly one HVAC climate zone, regardless of size.
• Geometric — all dimensions resolve to real metric measurements driven by real furniture SKUs (Steelcase, Midmark, Treston, Agati).

The three tile families

Family	Area	m²	Role
Small	2,700 SF	250.84	Most flexible; smallest unit of climate-zone autonomy
Medium	3,500 SF	325.16	Bridge family; absorbs short-side geometry
Large	4,900 SF	455.22	Corporate anchor; approaches 1/4 floor tile

Source: V12 Methodology p. 2. The Medium family is documented in the V12 Methodology PDF but is currently absent from tile-system.dtcg.json — flagged as a token-store gap.

Tile composition rules

These rules govern how Tiles compose into a valid Floor Plate. They are encoded as FP-* validators in the planned tool-floorplates Rust crate.

FP-SUM — every square foot is represented

The aggregate of Basic Tiles + Compound Tiles + Special Tiles + the Building Core sums to the full Net Leasable Area within a ±100 SF tolerance. No free space exists without a corresponding Key Plan.

FP-ENDCAP — short sides receive natural light

The two ends of the building use End Cap tiles:

• Small-family End Caps: Tile B-1 (Private 2,700 SF), Tile E-1 (Mixed Left 2,700 SF), Tile E-2 (Mixed Right 2,700 SF).
• 6,000 SF paired End Caps: Tile A-1 (Corporate), Tile B-2 (Private), Tile C-3 (Professional Medium), Tile C-4 (Professional Large).
• Medium-family End Caps: Tile E-1 (Private Office Medium variant) and Tile E-2 (Professional Office Medium variant), each approximately 3,500–5,500 SF.

End Caps must receive natural light on both perpendicular axes; an End Cap with no window on one axis triggers a window-bay revision (V12 Methodology p. 8, Sample #3/#4).

FP-CORE — Offset Pulled Back Core

The Building Core (Elevators, Service Stairs, Emergency Stairs, Restrooms, Meter Room, Mop Room) is positioned at least 18 m from the short end of the building. This leaves enough plate length for two End Cap tiles plus at least one Basic Tile on each side of the core.

FP-SNAP — Special Tile width matches Key Plan width

Special Tiles SP-A, SP-B, SP-C fill the residual area surrounding the Core. Their width is snapped to the nearest Professional Office Key Plan width. This preserves demising-wall continuity. SP-C, in front of the Core, must avoid direct alignment of any door with the elevator opening (V12 Methodology p. 9).

FP-CLIMATE — one tile, one HVAC zone

Each Tile is an independent climate zone. Tenants who combine Tiles combine climate-control authority; the leasing agreement prices this trade-off explicitly. Smaller tiles increase tenant autonomy; larger tiles reduce zone count in favour of contiguous space.

FP-DOORS — door count per tile and per floor

Each tile may carry up to 10 doors; each floor may carry up to 80 doors. The door count is one of the cost drivers in the leasing economics — every door is also a Service Hookup (electric, data, HVAC tap).

FP-CORNER — small tiles at corners trigger structural review

When a Small-family tile lands at a structural corner, the column grid is reviewed before the tile is finalised. Small tiles may conflict with the structural module; the core position is adjusted if the short-side tiles conflict (V12 Methodology p. 2, Inventory of Tiles note).

Floor-plate dimensional range

Class	Net leasable per floor	Floor count
Professional Centres	19,000 – 23,000 SF	3 – 5 floors
Suburban Office	17,000 – 21,000 SF	6 – 9 floors
Retail Select	4,500 / 6,700 / 7,700 SF	varies
Tech Industrial	7,200 / 8,400 SF	varies

Source: V1 Combinations PDF p. 2 (formal algebra).

Why "geometric self-similar aperiodic" matters

• Geometric — every dimension cites a furniture SKU plus a regulatory clearance, not a developer rule of thumb.
• Self-similar — a Tile at 2,700 SF is the same kind of object as a Tile at 4,900 SF: one climate zone, one leasable instrument.
• Aperiodic — tiles do not repeat on a fixed grid. A floor can carry a different tile sequence on every level.

Floor-plate composition example

From V12 Methodology p. 4 (Sample Small Tile):

• Tile A (Corporate Office 2,700) ×2 left of left emergency stairs
• Tile A (Corporate Office 2,700) ×2 between emergency stairs
• Special Tile A (400 SF) — core-adjacent left
• Building Core
• Special Tile B (300 SF) — core-adjacent right
• Tile A (Corporate Office 2,700) — right of core
• Tile A ×2 (5,400 SF combined) at right end

Basic Tiles: 18,900 SF. Special Tiles: 1,100 SF. Total: 20,000 SF.

Open research

• Q1. The token store lists E-1 and E-2 as 2,700 SF Small End Caps. The V12 Methodology shows them as Medium End Caps at approximately 3,500–5,500 SF. Which convention is authoritative?
• Q2. SP-C is documented at 4,700 SF in front of the Core. How does it interact with the Elevator Lobby for compositions using Medium tiles?
• Q3. What is the exact derivation of the 18 m minimum core-to-short-end distance? Inferred from end-cap and first-tile width, but no PDF cites the figure directly.
• Q4. The Tile B-1 token records 1,800 SF office + 900 SF corridor. The May Methodology shows 5 PO modules summing to 1,850 SF + 850 SF residual. Which composition is current?
• Q5. The 100 SF tolerance in FP-SUM is operator policy, not source-document text. Confirm the tolerance band before encoding.

See also

• bim-tile-system
• bim-floor-plate-tile-combinations
• bim-building-width-method
• bim-zone-depths-per-use-type