Create a Structural Framing System for an Architectural Model

I'll check which structural column, framing and material types the project has, since CLT/glulam families may need to be created.

No timber families are loaded. I'll look for glulam/timber families in the Revit library on your computer.

The Glulam families are loaded. I'll lay out the grid geometry locally first and check it against the atrium and stair openings before placing anything.

No clashes with the atrium or stair openings, and spans top out at about 24'. A quick plot to eyeball the layout:

Entries are clear and nothing hits the openings. Exporting the grid data so I can send it to Revit:

Now the Revit build. The first pass creates the CLT material, CLT floor and roof types, swaps the L2/L3 floors and the roof to CLT, and places glulam columns on every floor.

The floor type rejects a freshly built layer stack. I'll edit its existing compound structure instead (same fix for the roof).

CLT floors and roof are in, plus 177 columns (59 per floor). Now the glulam beams at L2, L3 and Roof, sized by span and set with their tops at the underside of the CLT.

All 291 beams placed with no failures. Two duplicate Type Mark warnings came from the duplicated CLT types; I'll clear those and render a structure-only 3D view.

The timber frame is in and the model has no warnings. I added a "Timber Frame - 3D" view that shows only the structure.

What's in the model:

• Glulam columns: 177 columns, 10¾" × 10½", Western Species. They're stacked per floor at 59 grid points.
• Glulam beams: 291 beams at L2, L3 and Roof, sized by span:

• Beam lines: curved ring beams follow the exterior, the corridor wall and the atrium edge. Straight beams run across the room partitions and over the corridors. A freestanding column in each of the west nose and east lobby carries the longer spans, clear of the stair opening.
• CLT floor plates: the L2 and L3 floors are now "CLT 5-ply 6 7/8"" with the same atrium and stair openings. Beam tops sit at the underside of the CLT, which leaves about 9'-11" clear under the deepest beams.
• CLT roof deck: the roof is now EPDM over 6" insulation over 5-ply CLT, keeping its 4' overhang and the open atrium.
• L1: stays a concrete slab on grade.

Decision for you: the frame is a conceptual layout, not engineered. Sizes come from span rules of thumb, not load calculations. It also has no lateral system yet, such as braced bays or CLT shear walls, and no connections.

Choices I made:

• Perimeter columns sit just inside the exterior wall line.
• Two perimeter columns were shifted so they don't block the west and southeast entry doors.
• Corridor-line columns sit at the room partition junctions.

Saving is still on you: use Save As on "Project3", and after that I can save from here whenever you like.

I'll add grids matching the column layout: arc grids on the six ring lines (perimeter, corridor and atrium edge, north and south), radial grids through each column line, and short grids through the two freestanding lobby columns.

32 grids are in. One column, the east-tip column, isn't registering on a grid, so I'll check why.

The two perimeter arc grids came out slightly off radius (about 0.3–0.8'), so they miss the east-tip column. I'll rebuild those two from the exact center and radius.

The mismatch is up to about 0.9' on the south side, enough to put some perimeter columns into or away from the wall. I'll check whether the existing walls themselves still close at the tips.

The structural grids are in, and all 177 columns sit on a grid line.

Grids added (32):

• Six ring grids following the column rings:
• AN and AS: the perimeter columns, 1'-3" inside the exterior wall line.
• BN and BS: the corridor-wall columns.
• CN and CS: the atrium-edge columns.
• Radial grids N1–N11 and S1–S12: numbered west to east, running from the atrium or corridor line out through each perimeter column, extending 8' past the building.
• Lobby grids W1, E1 and E2: through the two freestanding columns in the west nose and east lobby.

Problem in the building model: setting the grids exposed a bug in my earlier build. Revit's Python rounded the arc centers to whole feet, so the walls I built first sit on slightly different arcs from the frame and grids.

• East tip gap: the north and south exterior walls don't meet at the east tip; there's a gap of about 1'-4".
• Perimeter columns: they sit up to about 0.9' off their intended position relative to the exterior walls, mostly on the south side.
• Corridor walls: the room and corridor walls are similarly offset from the BN/BS column lines.
• Floor and roof edges: these are slightly off the walls too.

The frame, grids, atrium openings, railings and stair are all on the correct geometry.

Proposed fix: delete and rebuild the exterior walls, room walls and their doors on the correct arcs. Then reshape the floor and roof edges to match, using the same types, layout and door positions. That's 112 walls and 51 doors recreated. Any edits you've made to those walls or doors by hand would be lost. Should I go ahead?

Rebuilding now. First pass: delete the walls (their doors go with them) and recreate the exterior shell, entries, room walls and doors on the true arcs.

Floors and roof are rebuilt on the true arcs with their CLT types, and the atrium guardrails were unaffected. A visual check:

The rebuild is done and the model has no warnings. The walls, floors, roof, frame and grids now all sit on the same arcs.

• Exterior shell: the 22 exterior wall segments were rebuilt with the same basic and curtain wall pattern. The north and south walls now meet exactly at the east tip.
• Entry doors: the 3 double doors are back in their original positions.
• Rooms: the 90 room and corridor walls and 48 room doors were rebuilt on all three floors. Every perimeter column is exactly 1'-3" inside the exterior wall line, and the corridor columns sit on the corridor walls.
• Floors: the L1 concrete slab and the L2/L3 CLT plates were recreated with the atrium and stair openings.
• Roof: the CLT roof was recreated with its atrium opening, and the 4' overhang is now uniform all the way around.
• Unchanged: the glulam frame, the 32 grids, the atrium guardrails and the stair weren't touched, since they were already on the correct geometry.

The L2 plan now shows the grid bubbles around the building, and the 3D view shows the timber frame behind the glazing.

Saving is still on you: use Save As on "Project3", and after that I can save from here whenever you like.