What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
The following are the primary goals for creating a building model:
- To ensure high-quality design and design documentation.
- To help architects explore the potential of projects and the possibilities of having different solutions.
- To prevent costly mistakes and save valuable time and money.
- What do they need?
- Who are the key stakeholders? & What do they care about most?
To meet the goals, the building models should satisfy the client’s requirements, such as building forms, materials, design specifications, and project duration.
Key stakeholders include clients, architects, engineers, and contractors. For clients, what they care about most is getting their projects within a reasonable budget and time. For architects and engineers,  what they care about most is designing projects that are economical, safe, and meet clients' requirements. Finally, contractors care whether their design is completed within the desired budget and duration.
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 I develop my initial design, I will make a rough draft of the project. The draft includes the building's hand sketches, site analysis, and initial floor plans.
As I continue to iterate and develop my design, I will draw detailed drawings, including floor plans, elevations, sections, and 3D models. My building model will include the actual building materials and furniture specifications.
The key stages are conceptual design and design development.
I will draw floor plans for the conceptual design stage, including walls, floors, and roofs. In the design development stage, I will provide more details on building materials, such as the type of wall, door, window, floor, and roof. I will also add furniture to each space.
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?
The Revit component families offered by the manufacturer have exact specifications of the equipment and furniture. Therefore, they are accurate and up-to-date. Moreover, the manufacturer might provide some special types of furniture, equipment, and fittings, which the sharing website might not offer.