Housing is infrastructure

Housing is a key challenge globally.

Zoning, finance, construction costs, shifting demographics, skills shortages are converging to cause a housing crisis.

Giraffe works with governments, contractors, designers and developers around the world to build systemic, data driven responses to the housing crisis.

From zoning, to design feasibility to dfma: Giraffe provides strategic digital enablement.

This page shows some of the ways Giraffe can help.

Create plans

Setting the rules to balance the needs of the existing community with the need for housing.

Test feasibility and urban form at the same time, and run different policy settings quickly.

A data driven argument that considers design and feasibility.

Here the urban designer plays with various stepback options→

Automate approvals

Some assessment is subjective and human.

But most of it is checking areas, dimensions like height and setback, and other things that a computer can do brilliantly.

You can use the Giraffe platform to build an assessment tool for your city.

← In this example the pattern book app only shows those patterns which fit in the setback envelop.e

Think using libraries of components

Build libraries of dwelling, or unit, types, at any level of detail.

You don't need to be thinking in terms of fabrication, or manufacturing.

Standard product libraries drive efficiency and evolution even if they are traditionally delivered.

In this example a library of apartment types is assembled into a building by algorithm. →

Typology agnostic, and able to go deep

Apartments, mid rise, terraces or detached homes. Giraffe is built from first principles so can describe all typologies.

You can use the technology to go deep into the delivery and fabrication workflow.

Automate data pipelines into CAD, BIM or fabrication databases.

Want to see Giraffe in action? Watch a webinar.

Site analysis done fast

Model scenarios to find the build program that will drive the highest return

At its core, Giraffe combines drawing and math. 


Understand the impact of your design as you get real-time analytics while drawing. Standardize your business assumptions into templates: apartment sizes, construction rates, floor-to-floor heights, and building designs. Use them to create workflow efficiencies that allow you to focus on design iterations and optimisations.

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Consolidate your market research and understanding onto one single map

Understanding your market and context is critical to making good investment and design decisions. Giraffe allows you to connect to any data source extremely simply. These data sources can be woven together into a single pane of glass that drives transparency and understanding across your business.


Data sources can be queried, filtered and visualised on the fly to drive analytics and avoid confusion.
You can also host your own vector or raster data on the platform.

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Aggregate data layers and filter based on your requirements

Finding development opportunities can be a major challenge. Data is localised and can be hard to contextualise - this requires a system that can integrate lots of data from different locations.

Giraffe allows you to connect to spatial data from any location. Filter, query and layer any data sets over the top of each other.
Using the Lens tool you can build a customised site search tool that suits your needs in any location.

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