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Arxel – Constraint-driven 3D building masses in the browser

Arxel – Constraint-driven 3D building masses in the browser

by OzanEnginsal·Mar 4, 2026·3 points·0 comments
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AI Analysis

●●SolidEye CandySolve My ProblemNiche Gem

Constraint solver for building masses beats manual iteration, but Grasshopper and Dynamo already serve this.

Strengths
  • •Rephrases massing as a constraint satisfaction problem—saves architects from tedious manual geometry iterations.
  • •Real-time 3D streaming of solutions with morphology/orientation auto-labeling makes exploration tactile and fast.
  • •OBJ export into Rhino/Blender/SketchUp integrates cleanly into existing design workflows.
Weaknesses
  • •Grasshopper and Dynamo already solve parameterized massing; the gap is UX, not capability—no architectural breakthrough.
  • •Beta status and unvalidated claim that all outputs are 'physically viable' without structural analysis beyond connectivity.
Category
Design
Target Audience

Architects, urban designers, computational design teams, architecture students

Similar To

Grasshopper · Dynamo · Ladybug Tools

Post Description

Hi HN,

I am a solo developer building Arxel (arxel.app), a web tool for architects and computational designers to explore early-stage building volumes.

I noticed that designers often spend a lot of time manually iterating on basic geometries just to see what fits within site boundaries and volume limits. I wanted to turn this into a search problem.

You input your boundary dimensions, target volume, and floor height. Under the hood, Arxel uses the Google OR-Tools CP-SAT solver to find valid configurations. It enforces rules like gravity (voxels must be supported) and connectivity, so every output is physically viable.

The solutions stream into the 3D viewport in real-time. You can then filter the results and export directly to OBJ.

I would love to hear your feedback on the solver approach or the UX. Thanks for checking it out.

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