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Zaaglijst Studio Docs

Design briefs to copy

Each brief below was given to an AI assistant with the Zaaglijst tools. Every result validates with zero warnings and opens in the editor. Copy a brief, change it to your site, and add the details from Get good results.

A short brief: tiny house

Section titled “A short brief: tiny house”
A tiny house with a saddle roof

A 10 × 6 m tiny house with high ceilings and big windows. It may be experimental.

The assistant chose a saddle roof of straight glulam rafters over a glass box with no corner posts, and a loft under the high corner. It picked all sections itself: 99 parts.

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A mood brief: forest house

Section titled “A mood brief: forest house”
A forest house with a leaf-shaped roof

Three forest houses. Big windows, inspiring shapes. A beautiful space to spend time. Experimental design. Inspired by motion, nature and shadows and light. 70 to 90 m² of living space.

One brief, three houses: each assistant made its own. This one folds a leaf roof over a midrib on a tree column. Asking for several designs at once gives you options to compare.

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A pair with one brief: fishermen’s houses

Section titled “A pair with one brief: fishermen’s houses”
A two-storey house on piles
A low house on anchor-beam bents

Two distinguishable design houses. Two levels, large windows. Inspired by old Dutch fishermen’s houses.

“Distinguishable” made the pair contrast: a tall house on 18 piles under a 55° roof, and a low house on six bents with a long sea roof.

Open the house on piles Open the house on bents

A staged brief: forest cinema

Section titled “A staged brief: forest cinema”
A sunken cinema with a cone of radial beams

Three radically different freestanding wooden home cinemas for a forest or garden. Acoustically sound, buildable in wood, and no traditional house shapes.

This brief was done in two stages. First a written concept with the acoustic rules and three directions. Then each direction got its own structural brief with axes and key heights, and was built in batches. Use this pattern for anything large.

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A brief template

Section titled “A brief template”
Design a [building] in Zaaglijst Studio.
Size: [footprint] m, [height] m, roof [shape and pitch].
Levels: [floors, headroom].
Spaces: [rooms and sizes].
Timber: [grades, known sections, or "choose sensible sizes"].
Structure: [bents / posts and beams / piles / braces].
Leave out: glazing, cladding, roofing, foundations.
First tell me how you read this and which sizes you assume. Then build it in stages,
validate after each stage, show a drawing, and aim for zero warnings.
End with a report: sizes, parts, volume by grade, changes made to clear warnings,
and what is not modelled.
  • Get good results: Write a brief an assistant can build from: sizes, levels, spaces and timber. Work in stages, ask for drawings and read the warnings together.
  • Saddle roof tiny house: A 10 by 6 m tiny house under a saddle roof of straight glulam rafters, with post-free glass corners and a loft under the high corner.
  • Leaf Fold forest house: A forest house with a leaf-shaped roof on a midrib, a tree column and a screen of fins. 74 parts, 9.8 m³ of timber.
  • Paalhuis on piles: A two-storey house on 18 piles after the old fishermen's houses, under a steep 55 degree roof with a glazed water gable.
  • Gebinthuis fisherman's house: A low house on six anchor-beam bents with a long sea roof, a dormer band and a small net shed against the gable.
  • The Hollow forest cinema: A sunken home cinema for a forest: a lopsided cone of radial glulam beams to an oculus ring, with a ramp and an exit stair.