What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
- What do they care about most?
- The key stakeholders are architects, engineers, and contractors (AEC), and also clients. BIM is special in that it is used by the AEC industry in a way that can be communicated to clients who are less-versed in construction practices.
- What do they need?
- architects: clear design intent
- engineers: accurate data (HVAC, MEP, structure)
- contractors: buildable materials and and quantities
- clients: visuals, cost, scheduling
Primary goals: Visualize, coordinate, and communicate the design accurately from concept to construction, reducing errors, and improving collaboration (which in turn makes construction more cost and time efficient).
How much detail should you include in your building model? How do you decide?
- As you develop your initial design?
- In conceptual stages, models don’t need to be hyper-realistic or even accurate. They should be simple and quick- including only key features. Simply including key features (like for this assignment: a pitched roof, the general massing of different spaces, and layout) should be enough in early conceptual stages. It’s actually pretty helpful for design progression to be missing details (e.g. textures and exact window placement, door heights, etc) so that there is plenty to reflect on and improve as you iterate. It is not realistic to spend hours and hours and hours on detailing an initial concept when the purpose of the initial design is to spark exploration and flexibility for iteration. I once presented two rectangular wooden blocks glued together as a conceptual model for an architecture class, and that alone provided a solid basis for plenty of iteration.
- As you continue to iterate and develop on your design?
- You begin to learn what design and functional elements should and should not be included. This stage includes thinking more deeply about realistic dimensions (e.g. for ADA compliance, energy efficiency), materials, and representative components. If I were to iterate on this research station assignment, in this phase I’d begin to add MEP components and make my windows and doors more accurate. I might also consider adding furniture and fixture families to verify spatial integrity.
- What are the key stages?
- conceptual, design development, documentation (creating manufacturing/shop drawings, and specifics on connections and materials), as-built (final construction documents)
- And how much detail should you include at each stage?
- conceptual: enough to communicate potential form, function, and scale (with plenty of flexibility for change)
- design developmen: real dimensions, accurate materials, furniture and fixture family placement
- documentation: construction documents pre-built that provide full detail/instruction for installation
- as-built: same as above but including and changes that were made throughout the construction process
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
- Preliminary design
- Design development
- Construction documentation
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...)
- 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?
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?
I will use an example from a startup I worked for this past summer, Kit Switch, which used Revit specifically to share component families of their kitchen modules to architects. Sharing the revit families helped the architects easily visualize the look of a modular/kitted kitchen assembly in the homes they were designing. Similarly, they could easily rearrange the families to achieve a more desirable look and/or function. The dimensions of the product are accurate in the families, aiding in decisions around ADA and general code compliance.
Manufacturer-provided families are more accurate, up-to-date, and aligned with real-world dimensions, materials, and performance data. This ensures that the BIM model reflects products that can actually be specified, purchase, and installed with little to no error during construction.