How to use the Design Lab

Draw a house for your land in about two minutes. No training needed.

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1. What this tool does

You tell it how big your land is and how many bedrooms you want. It draws a complete house plan for you, and shows the same house in 3D so you can see what it would look like.

This is an idea, not a building plan. Before you build, a licensed ARCON architect must draw and stamp the real plans, and LASPPPA must approve them.

2. The screen

SETTINGS Plot width: 18 Plot depth: 30 Bedrooms: 4 Generate New variation OK Footprint inside setback OK No overlapping rooms These green ticks are the rule checks. FLOOR PLAN Sitting Room 5.7x5.2 Dining Kitchen Bedroom 1 Bedroom 2 The house seen from above. Each box is a room. Yellow = master bedroom. 3D VIEW Drag to turn. Scroll to zoom. Walk mode lets you go inside.

Figure 1. Settings on the left, plan in the middle, 3D on the right.

3. Make your first house

  1. Type your land size. Width and depth, in metres. A common Lagos plot is 18 by 30.
  2. Choose bedrooms. Then tick any extras you want, like Store, Visitor room or Borehole.
  3. Press Generate. Wait two seconds.
  4. Do not like it? Press New variation. It tries a completely different idea. Press it as often as you like.
The Seed box is a name tag for your design. Write the number down. Typing the same seed later brings back the same house.

4. Changing rooms

Bedroom 2 6.9 x 3.6 Drag the middle = MOVE Drag blue corner = RESIZE Double-click a room A box asks for the size. Type it like this: 6.9 x 3.6 Right-click a room Opens the details box: rename, delete, add door, add window, step inside in 3D. Brown bar = door. Blue bar = window.

Figure 2. Four ways to change a room.

To move a door or window, drag the coloured bar along the wall. To remove one, double-click it.

5. Extra buttons above the plan

ButtonWhat it does
Ground / 1stSwitch between floors, if your house has two
+ FloorAdd another storey
+ RoomAdd one more room to the plan
PDFSave the floor plan as a PDF
Architectural SheetOpen the proper drawing sheet, with a title block, north arrow and scale bar

6. The 3D view

What you wantWhat to do
Turn the house aroundDrag with the mouse
Zoom in or outScroll the mouse wheel
Slide the view sidewaysHold right button and drag
Take the roof offPress All roofs or G roof
See a cut-throughPress Dollhouse cut
Walk insideRight-click a room, then Step inside. Move with W A S D or the arrow keys. Press Esc to come out.
Move the sunDrag the Sun slider to see shadows at different times of day

7. The green ticks and red warnings

At the bottom left is a list called INVARIANT GATE. Each line is a rule the plan must obey. Green OK means it passes. A red X means something is wrong - for example two rooms sitting on top of each other, or the house sticking outside the legal setback.

If you drag a room and a red X appears, drag it back. The check updates live as you move things.

8. Common problems

ProblemWhat to do
The house does not fit the landReduce bedrooms, or set Archetype to "duplex" so it builds upwards
Rooms overlap after draggingDrag it back, or press New variation to start fresh
The 3D view is blankRefresh the page. The floor plan still works without 3D.
Nothing happens on GenerateCheck plot width and depth are filled in and above 6 metres
"Design Lab is a credits bonus"Sign in first. The Lab comes with your credits.
Need more than this? Design Professional is the bigger version. It adds elevations, sections, roof plans, electrical and plumbing layouts, door and window schedules, a Bill of Quantities, DXF export for AutoCAD, Undo and Redo buttons, and lets you type exact room sizes instead of dragging.

9. Words you will see

WordWhat it means
SetbackEmpty space the law says you must leave between your building and the edge of your land
FootprintThe shape the house makes on the ground
EnsuiteA toilet and bath inside a bedroom
BQBoys' Quarters - a small separate building for staff or guests
ArchetypeThe kind of house: bungalow (one floor) or duplex (two floors)
Finish tierHow expensive the materials are: basic, standard or luxury
ARCONThe body that licenses architects in Nigeria
LASPPPAThe Lagos office that approves building plans
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