40d:Building

A building is a structure that can be placed from the build menu and then interacted with by the Set Building Tasks/Prefs command q, and the View Items in Buildings command t. Included in this are workshops, doors, trade depots, beds, cabinets, bridges, and traps -- most of the interesting stuff your dwarves will build!

Most buildings are made from raw materials and/or other finished items. Some buildings are placed furniture; a cage or alunite throne sitting in a stockpile is just furniture and can be washed away, burnt, bled upon, etc., but when built becomes a building that can be interacted with. (Or, what seems more accurate to say, a new building is created and the original piece of furniture whisked away to its inventory.) Some buildings can be used to define rooms.

Buildings are often considered distinct from constructions. While both are built via the b build menu, constructions are inert to q and t, are removed by designation, and are generally more similar to terrain features. Furthermore, dwarves can place buildings on constructed floors, but buildings cannot overlap other buildings, nor can constructions overlap other constructions. Also constructions provide support while buildings do not.

Overlap of Buildings and Constructions

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Most tiles have one of these simple states: wall, empty space, or floor.

Nothing can be built or constructed inside a wall. Constructions and some furniture (wells, grates, bridges) can be built over empty space. So almost all building occurs on floor tiles, whether carved naturally, or constructed. Note that a tile that would otherwise be empty space behaves as a floored space if over a constructed wall.

When it comes to stairs and ramps, the behavior is not very intuitive. The table below details which building and constructions will prevent the construction of certain other buildings and constructions, since the system isn't always consistent. This table isn't necessarily complete, there's probably more buildings which are inconsistent.

	Workshop	Other buildings	Natural					Constructed					Open Space
			Floor	Up Stair	Down or Up/Down Stair	Up Slope	Down Slope	Floor	Up Stair	Down Stair	Up Ramp	Down Ramp
Workshop	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Other Buildings	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Some
Constructed Floor	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Constructed Wall	No	Yes	Yes	Yes¹	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Constructed Up Stair	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Constructed Down Stair	No	No	Yes	No	Yes¹	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes²
Up/Down Stair	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes²
Ramp	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes

¹Destroys natural up stairs on the tile.

²Down and up/down stairs must be constructed 1 z-level above an existing up stair if you wish to build them in open space.

List of buildings

V · T · E Buildings
Workshops • Furnaces
Rooms	Barracks • Bedroom • Dining room • Jail • Meeting hall • Office • Sculpture garden • Tomb • Zoo
Furniture	Animal trap • Anvil • Armor stand • Bed • Bin • Bucket • Cabinet • Cage • Coffin • Container • Restraint • Seat • Statue • Table • Weapon rack
Access	Door • Floodgate • Bars • Grate • Floor hatch • Bridge • Road • Window
Constructions	Fortification • Floor • Stairs • Ramp • Wall
Machine & Trap parts	Axle • Gear assembly • Millstone • Screw pump • Water wheel • Windmill • Lever • Pressure plate • Trap • Support
Other Buildings	Archery target • Kennel • Shop • Siege engine • Trade depot • Wagon • Well
Related Articles	Design strategies • Bedroom design • Cave-in • Computing • Furniture industry