What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
- What do they need?
- What do they care about most?
One primary goal of creating a building model is to be able to visualize, communicate, and document your design for a building. This is important in order to make your vision come to life and communicate your ideas to other people who will be involved in the construction process, such as architects, other engineers (structural, lighting, electrical), contractors, etc. These are the key stakeholders who will require various detailed documentation as you design your building. For example, the interior architect might need to look at the floor plans, while the civil engineer might need to see the plumbing and HVAC. Great communication and detailed documentation are crucial for any building project.
How much detail should you include in your building model? How do you decide?
- As you develop your initial design?
- As you continue to iterate and develop on your design?
- What are the key stages?
- And how much detail should you include at each stage?
As you develop your initial design, you should include the general shape of the structure and the layout/partitioning of the rooms in the building. It does not have to be the most detailed, however, you should try your best. As you continue to iterate and develop your design, you can finalize the dimensions of the building, add furniture, and other final touches. The key stages in your design process are in the beginning, as you are settling for a rough design, and when you finalize the dimensions of your building. It is also important in the end of the design process to check that all the elements of your building model make sense (for example, that the windows and furniture are facing the right way). The final building model should be the most detailed and easy to decipher, with door and window tags, dimensions, etc.
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?
It is advantageous to get Revit component families directly from a manufacturer versus from an online sharing website because you can be more certain that the dimensions are more accurate to how the families are in real life (physically). Often this may mean that the families look more realistic and fit better in the space you create.