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[Zombie_Dog]

I'm still pretty new to the game, and I'm currently designing a fortress. I originally thought of putting my workshop a level lower than my housing, but I'm wondering if I should put them lower, in anticipation of magma discovery? Or Or should I put an unused layer between workshop and storeroom, so I can route the magma if I do find it?

[blue emu]

I like to put my export stockiples near the exit to the trade depot... so I often use a three-level system for workshops:

ground level : export stockpiles
level z-1 : workshops and small working stockpiles
level z-2 : main raw materials stockpiles

Each workshop room has its own staircases directly connecting it to the raw materials below and to the export stockpiles above. The in-room working stockpiles are fed (via 'q' - 't') from the main stockpiles in the room below.

[silhouette]

NOISE
DONT FORGET NOISE.
look up on the wiki about noise.

Workshops produce a 4 square area of noise from any direction, that includes up, that means anything 4 tiles above the workshop will receive noise, and dwarves will complain about it if their bed is noisy.

[petersohn]

I usually start my fortress with digging out a large cave in the soil layer, and put my workshops there, preferably next to their respective stockpiles. Though furniture stockpile will get further with time because it fills up so fast. I build a short tunnel at one end and build the housing after that, preferably in stone layer so I can engrave it, so I don't get much noise.

[Shiv]

I usually do small 3x3 rooms for the Mood shops (so I can put a door on them) and then the others get lumped into a large room.  I use a central stockpiling system (the workshops are built around the stockpile) and make special ones as necessary/I receive worthy items. 

[MrFake]

You just can't have a workshop too far from the stockpiles it takes materials from.  For instance, a carpenter's workshop doesn't need to be right next to the wood stockpile, but it won't function well if it's across the map from it.  Workshops don't need to be near housing, since your busy dwarfs won't visit home very often.  Nor do they need to be near food or booze.  In all cases, though, they still shouldn't be across the map, or they won't function well.

Stockpiles for the product created at the workshop can be far away, since, ideally, you want the haulers to work separately from the creators.  The closest thing to an exception I've found is for furniture.  I usually make furniture on demand.  When, say, a bed is done, I tend to want to place it immediately, but since a dwarf often gets a hauling job before I get to it, the bed can't be placed until it reaches the stockpile.  Of course, you can just pause, forbid, unforbid, then build the item, but that's extra micromanagement.  Stockpiles for trade goods should be close to the trade depot, because you just might find you have hundreds of individual, cheap trinkets to sell, and that can easily be a hauling disaster without proper placement.

Noise is not too big of a deal.  If you can manage thoughts in other ways (nice furniture, legendary dining rooms), it's a non-issue.  I hope this is adjusted in future versions.

Be very careful with multiple z-levels.  Dwarfs chosen for jobs are picked based on closest straight line distance (either Euclidean or Manhattan distance), not shortest path distance.  A dwarf that's standing directly above a workshop may have to travel a long distance to get to the only stairway down to it; that dwarf may be picked over one that's only ten steps away.  A fix is to have many stairways between levels, or to not expand far horizontally, so dwarfs don't have to travel far to change z-levels.

[sono]

To my knowledge, currently workshops do not generate noise, the only significant noise is from furniture hauling and figthing.

when placing workshops it is imperative that you realize that material and personell assignments do not account for z-level difference. i.e. when a single stone is 10 z levels below, but x=y=0 with a workshop, the mason will go all the way down to fetch this stone.

i used to use universal stockpiles in the beginning, but now i have gone over to creating highly specialized stockpiles which provides a massive speedup with workloads. especially for butchery/tanning/bonecrafting, setting up inside refuse sps that only accept corpse/raw hide/bone/skull/shell etc...

[petersohn]

For refuse piles, I usually set up one that accepts everything that rots, and one inside, close to the craftsdwarfs workshop which accepts bones, skulls and shells.

[sono]

I set up one that accepts corpses for fresh kills, and raw hide, another one for bones etc., and make sure a food sp is close by for the meat. The rest is not so critical. The tannery is, of course, next to the butchers shop and often the butcher will do the tanning as well, with some peons on tanning support.
since butchering and tanning has no quality modifiers and doesn not take very long, it really doesnt matter much who does it. still, you need a designated butcher and tanner or shit will be left to rot.

[assimilateur]

DON'T FORGET NOISE.

People will generally forget about little things like that because most dwarves are going to be deliriously ecstatic thanks to the usual legendary dining hall, fancy furniture and exquisite catering. A couple of bad thoughts like those caused by noise or flies are all but irrelevant, unless you're trying to be a perfectionist or something.