Module 2 - Points to Ponder

What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?

• The primary goals of creating a building model are to portray a building idea in a 3 dimensional way. This allows for clear communication of the idea, preventing mistakes in design, dimension, and construction. The key stakeholders are the architect, the engineers, the contractors, and the client. The architect uses the building model to convey their vision: what will the building look like, how will it define space, how will it appear in context of the site, how will it feel for the client? They care first about conveying a vision/idea to the client to get them to approve. Secondly, they care about expressing the building in a way that makes it easy for contractors to build accurately. Engineers use building modeling to ensure the building will work correctly and safely. For example, they can look at/create details to understand the structural systems in the building and how they work in different environments. The contractors need to use the building model to analyze how to conceive the building in real life. It is almost like directions as to how to build the building. They are looking at materials, dimensions, and joinery methods. Arguably, the most important stakeholder is the client. For them, a building model will show them a preview of what they are purchasing. It can give them the confidence in the design and the ability to make changes prior to construction.

How much detail should you include in your building model? How do you decide?

• As you develop your initial design?
• The initial design is just a prototype, it should be the bare minimum that still gets the idea across. This allows for quick iterations and changes depending on taste and client desires. This most likely includes the floor plan and the building profile, so floors and the roof.
• As you continue to iterate and develop on your design?
• As the design continues to be developed, more details can be added. Things like interior walls, windows, and doors would come next. Once satisfied with the framework, smaller details can be added like furniture and people. This helps add scale and purpose, to create an understandable visual of the design thought. Lastly, all the construction details should be added for the contractors to be able to understand how the building works structurally to build it.
• What are the key stages?
• The key stages are 1) conceptual design 2) preliminary design 3) design development and 4) construction documentation
• And how much detail should you include at each stage?
1. Conceptual design - bare minimum design details: floors, walls, roof… etc
2. Preliminary design - begin working on interior walls (room creation), add in doors and windows. Becomes more fluid, appears like a working building
3. Design development - details to portray living potential, scale, and purpose. Things like furniture, people, components (plumbing, storage, cabinets, etc).
4. Construction documentation - materiality, thickness, structure, specifications of every building detail is required. This should be a finished product. Enough details so that contractors can easily follow instructions to construct in real world.

Many door and window manufacturers provide Revit families for doors and windows that you can specify for your building design.

• What is the advantage to manufacturers for providing these families? (it's not free to create and provide them...)
• From a cost-benefit analysis, the benefits for the manufacturers long term of providing their own families outweigh the minimal cost of creating and providing them. This is because of the increased exposure their products receive from being on this platform. Architects and designers can select their products to load into their projects, thus getting a preview of what they would look like in the finish product. If they are satisfied with the result, they are more likely to purchase. Further, by having this catalogue of products, the manufacturers could gain exposure to users that may not have known they exist. Prior to online building modeling, contractors most likely relied on products and companies they already knew, but with these online platforms, there is more of a chance to discover and use new products and manufacturers if they fit with the design.
• What is the benefit to you as the designer of using these manufacturer-provided families? Is there an advantage to using them versus the families provided in the Revit library?
• By using these manufacturer-provided families, designers have the luxury of greater accuracy in their drafts. These families are realistic models of purchasable products while families provided in the Revit library are just generic mock ups. Thus, in a finished rendering, by using the manufacturer families, the measurements will be accurate, which is helpful for contractors, but also it will appear precisely like real life, which is helpful for the client.