---
title: "How to style individual buildings | Guides | Map design"
description: "How to highlight specific buildings on map"
---

> For AI agents: a documentation index is available at [/llms.txt](https://docs.maptiler.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of all pages are available by appending .md to any URL.

# How to style individual buildings

Do you want to **highlight specific buildings** on your map? On this page you’ll learn how to isolate selected buildings so you can style them in custom colors or apply 3D extrusion to make them literally stand out.

![Styled buildings](styled-buildings.webp)

## Add a new building layer

The layer that contains filterable building details isn’t included in our maps by default, so the first step is to add it:

1.  In your MapTiler account, [page **Maps**](https://cloud.maptiler.com/maps/), click on the map you want to use. It can be any map including custom.
    
2.  Under the map preview, click **Customize**. This opens the map in [Map Designer](https://docs.maptiler.com/guides/getting-started/map-design/).
    
3.  Go to menu **Layers** and click the plus button to add a new **layer**.
    
4.  Find the **Buildings** dataset and select the `building` layer in it. Add it to your map.
    

## Filter out your buildings

Now you have a new layer in the **Built-up** block and you can proceed to filter out the buildings you want to style.

1.  In the layer panel, switch view from **Style** to **Data**. Click on the desired building to show its details and click on the **id** to copy it.
    
    ![Copy the building ID](copy-id.webp)
    
2.  In the **Filter** section, click the plus button to open the **Filter by attribute** menu. Select **id**.
    
    ![Filter building by id](filter-by-id.webp)
    
3.  Paste the copied building ID to the input field and add it. Then hover over the building ID and **Select only this value** to hide all the other buildings.
    
    ![Add building IDs](add-ids.webp)
    

Repeat these steps to add any other buildings you want to style in the same way.

Tip

If your map contains multiple building layers, their styling can interfere and create unwanted “effects”. You can use the little eye icon on any problematic layer to hide it, but the best practice is to have just one layer for regular buildings and another one for the styled buildings, where the regular layer has a filter to exclude the styled buildings. To do that, go to the regular buildings layer, switch view to **Data**, and replace the `MapTiler Planet` data source with `Buildings`. Now you can add a building ID filter as described above.

## Style the buildings

With your buildings filtered out, switch view from **Data** back to **Style** and you’re ready to do the magic!

### Adjust color

In the layer panel, define the building’s color, opacity, outline, or other properties.

![Style building in color](building-color.webp)

### Use 3D extrusion

To apply 3D shape, switch the visualization method to **Extrusion**. Tilt the map (right mouse button) to get a better view angle and adjust the color, opacity, and building height as needed.

![Extrude building](extrusion.webp)

## Style multiple buildings

What if you’re working with multiple buildings and want to style each of them differently? Reuse your existing building layer to achieve that:

1.  Right-click the building layer and select **Duplicate**. We recommend to **Rename** the duplicated layer, especially if you’re going to create more copies.
    
2.  Switch view to **Data**. In the **Filter** section, hover over a building ID and click **Select only this value**.
    
3.  Switch view to **Style** and adjust the layer as preferred. Repeat for all buildings you want to style separately.
    
    ![Style multiple buildings differently](multiple-buildings.webp)
    

**Save** and **Publish** your map, and you’re ready to [show it on your website](https://docs.maptiler.com/guides/using-map/).

Tip

By default, every map opens on a whole world view. If you’d like to show the location of your styled buildings instead, adjust the [default view](https://docs.maptiler.com/guides/map-design/global-map-settings/#default-view) in the map settings.