What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
- What do they need?
For this model, the occupants need access to the bathroom, lab and storage area easily. You can get dirty when doing fieldwork and you need to be able to clean up quickly without tracking dirt throughout the building.
- What do they care about most?
They care most about the use of the storage room, lab and desks. My structure is intended for sample collections, small immediate sampling and testing, but ultimately a space where scientists and field researchers can collect their samples and bring them back to their main labs(why storage is so large).
How much detail should you include in your building model? How do you decide?
- As you develop your initial design?
As an initial concept, you want to “block” in the main ideas. Then this would later be refined in collaboration with the clients. I sketched many different iterations before I settled on the concept(which turned out to be simpler in shape than I had initially planned).
- As you continue to iterate and develop on your design?
As the design progresses, the details begin to fall into place. You start moving windows and walls to make things fit. Furniture as well.
- What are the key stages?
“Block” in main concepts. Consider orientation and how the land shapes the space. Simultaneously, you consider the occupants’ primary goals and needs. Then you take off from there(pushing and pulling rooms and placing larger components)
- And how much detail should you include at each stage?
Enough to get the main goals across and provoke new conversations about the space.
How much detail should you include about the composition (layers, materials, thicknesses) of your wall, floor, and roof assemblies at different stages of your design process?
- Conceptual design
Little detail. More large-ideas
- Preliminary design
Larger ideas refined and noting critical areas
- Design development
ADA-compliant call-outs and other more detailed call-outs.
- Construction documentation
High level of detail- call outs for fabricators, builders, engineers etc.
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...)
Manufacturers are making it easier for designers to know what fits and what doesn’t. This is their way of advertising and nudging the designers to use their products.
- 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?
It saves modeling time and you are more likely that the product is available.
What are the advantages of getting the Revit component families (for furniture, equipment, and fittings) directly from the manufacturer versus from an online sharing website like RevitCity.com?
Similar to the answer above. The models will be more accurate and you’re more likely to buy them from the manufacturer because they are available.