Enter a pupil number and draw a boundary. SyntaxLab lays out block plans for Irish second level schools, checks each one against the Department’s design guide and fire regulations, and estimates its cost.
Every plan comes with a receipt covering 89 rules, each traced to its source in the published guidance.
Is this plot big enough? How tall would it have to go? What would it cost? Those questions come up at the very start, when no design team is appointed and a feasibility study is hard to justify.
SyntaxLab answers them with several worked options in seconds, using the same published room schedules, area limits and cost limits for every site, so the options can be compared fairly.
Three groups tend to need this question answered before they can move.
Know what a site can hold
before anyone pays for a drawing.
Enter 200 to 2,000 pupils and trace your boundary on the map, marking which edge faces the road.
SyntaxLab works out the rooms the school needs and tries up to 13 plan types, keeping the ones that fit, going taller where the site is tight.
See how each plan fits the site, compare the options side by side, then print a feasibility report or export a DXF.
These are unedited results for 500 pupils on the site shown above. Failures and overruns stay visible, because that is the point of testing early.
Wings on two edges, hall in the angle.
138% of the area limit
Open at the back, wrapping three edges.
144% of the area limit
Follows every edge. Largest and costliest.
159% of the area limit · 1 required rule failing
Compact and rectangular. Ignores the angles.
108% of the area limit · 1 required rule failing
One straight bar. Closest to the area limit.
107% of the area limit
Area limit is the Department’s limit for 500 pupils. Following a site’s edges costs extra corridor and corner space, which is why these plans run over it. Ground floors are drawn at the same scale.
Open the rulebook to read every rule in plain words, with the section it comes from.
Yes, during the research phase. Paid options may come later for professional use, and anything like that will be announced here first.
No. Plans are early block studies for testing what a site can hold. They show rooms, floors and rough cost, and they need an architect to become a design.
No. SyntaxLab is an independent research tool made for an architecture research project. It uses the Department’s published guidance but carries no approval from the Department.
Each plan gets a score receipt covering 89 rules: 82 from the design guide and fire regulations, 15 of them required, and 7 research benchmarks scored separately. Eight of the 82, including 2 required rules, cannot be checked at block stage yet and are marked as such.
It starts from the Department’s April 2025 cost limits and adjusts for the shape of the plan. It leaves out furniture and equipment, professional fees, abnormal site costs, land and price rises since April 2025, so treat it as a way to compare options.
No. A very narrow site, or a high pupil number on a small site, can have no plan that fits. SyntaxLab then tells you the clearest rectangle on the site and the width it needs.
Yes. Any plan can be exported as a DXF drawing for AutoCAD, Revit or Rhino, and you can print a compliance report or save it as a PDF.
No. There is nothing to install and no sign up. Your designs are saved in your own browser, so they stay on that device unless you export them.
Pilot partners, questions and corrections to the rules are all welcome. Tell me a little about what you’re working on and I’ll reply by email.
Free during the research phase, with no account and nothing to install. Your designs stay in your browser until you export them.
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