What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
The first person I think of is the client. The people who will be maintaining, operating, or using a space need to get a sense of how a space will serve them before putting in a large investment.
The people who will be working on the building, the architects, engineers, builders, etc., also really benefit from building modeling as a tool for communication.
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?
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.
It is an opportunity for the manufacturer’s product to be a part of the building even from the design stage. Now instead of a generic 36’’x72’’ window, the model describes the specifications of a specific brand. That specificity may benefit designers too if there are performance differences between manufacturers or if someone on the team is working on making estimates from the cost of building supplies.
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?
From a quick look at RevitCity.com, I can tell this is a site where anyone can submit their own designs. I’m not sure what kind of standard of review they are held to (if any). For that reason, I would assume the manufacturer’s components are more accurate.