Floor plate methodology — key plans and tiles

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).

[edit]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.

[edit]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.

[edit]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.

[edit]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).

[edit]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.

[edit]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).

[edit]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.

[edit]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).

[edit]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).

[edit]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).

[edit]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.

[edit]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.

[edit]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.