Codex for researching a building plot: from a plot number to a model of the house
2 min read
I gave Codex An AI assistant from OpenAI that works on files on your computer: it reads and changes them and runs programs. a plot number and a municipality. It found the local zoning plan (in Poland: MPZP) and the municipal documents on its own, then modelled the terrain and the house on the plot, applied the plan's restrictions and made previews. It also looked for groundwork crews nearby.
How I worked
I use the Codex desktop app, which runs on ChatGPT Plus A paid ChatGPT subscription with more features than the free version. for me. Codex also runs in the terminal A window where you type commands instead of clicking., but for this kind of work the app is more convenient. It's easier to write and edit longer text, you can paste a screenshot (for example part of a map or a drawing from the plan), and it connects to servers over SSH A secure connection to another computer where you type commands as if you sat in front of it. without any trouble. I work in specific projects, that is folders where I also use git A program that saves successive versions of the files in a folder, so you can go back to any of them.. I gave the project the plot number and the name of the municipality.
What Codex found and built
From the plot number and the municipality it found the zoning plan and the municipal documents that apply to the plot. It listed the plan's restrictions and applied them in the terrain model and the visualisation of the plot. When something looked different from the map, I pasted a screenshot and corrected it until the mock-up matched what I see on site. While at it, I asked it to research companies, for example groundwork crews in the area.
My prompts looked like this:
I need a visualisation and a model of the terrain on my plot that stays within the zoning plan (MPZP)
I need you to find me crews that can level the ground and build an embankment for a small bridge near [town]
I now have a finished mock-up with settings, calculations, and the design of the house and the plot. It shows the exact terrain of the plot and its slope, the modelled neighbouring plots, the excavations and undercuts for the foundations, and a house planner.
What took the longest
The engine The part of a program that does the main work, here calculating and laying out the house. that generates and designs the house took Codex more than two weeks to refine, with constant corrections.
What didn't work
It sometimes nitpicked. For example, it found an embankment limit that didn't apply to me at all, because all my neighbours in the area had much bigger changes to the terrain.
A zoning plan is a legal document, so what Codex lists from it has to be checked in the plan itself or at the municipal office. Both ways: whether it missed something, and whether what it found really applies to this plot.