You can use AI tools to place structural grids based on a sketch of your proposed layout.
AI Prompt - Placing Grids Based on a Layout Sketch
Place grids in my Revit model using this sketch as a guide.
Result
Before placing these, I need to check the model. Your sketch shows the courtyard 25'-0" from the east face instead of 30'-0", which would put its west edge at 105' instead of 100'. I'll read the actual wall positions from the model first.
Now to Dynamo. I'll check whether it's still open; it may need relaunching for this model.
The positions are right. Placing the grids.
I placed 11 grids in "Placing Grids Based on Sketch", laid out like your sketch. Bubbles are at the north and east ends. Grids 1–3 stop just past the west wing's south wall, grid E covers only the east block, and the rest run the full building. Revit confirmed all 11, and they show in the L1 plan.
The hand-drawn lines fall a little off the walls, so I snapped them to the nearest sensible position:
Grid | Location | Basis |
1, 2, 3 | 1'-0", 31'-0", 61'-0" from west face | 1' inset, then two 30'-0" bays as sketched |
4 | 101'-0" | 1' inside the east block's west wall |
5 | 136'-0" | 1' east of the courtyard's east face |
6 | 159'-0" | 1' inside the east face |
A, B, C | 1'-0", 24'-0", 56'-0" from north face | 1' inset, then 1' outside the courtyard's north and south faces |
D | 79'-0" | 1' inside the west wing's south wall |
E | 109'-0" | 1' inside the south face (this building is 110'-0" deep) |
Three things to check:
- Grid 4: your sketch puts it about halfway between the east block's west wall (100') and the courtyard (105'). I put it 1' inside the wall, which follows the inset rule. That leaves the courtyard's west face 4' east of the grid, so its edge beam would cantilever 4'. If you meant grid 4 to follow the courtyard instead, it would go at 104'-0". Then the cantilever moves to the wall side instead.
- Bay sizes: following the sketch gives bays of 30', 30' and then 40' between grids 3 and 4. A 40' bay is workable in steel but noticeably deeper. Grids at 34'-4" and 67'-8" would make three even 33'-4" bays instead.
- Courtyard: the courtyard grids are set from your dimensions (courtyard faces at 105', 135', 25' and 55'). The curtain walls' centerlines in the model sit a few inches off those.
AI Prompt - Placing Structural Columns at Grid Locations
Place W10x49 steel columns at the grid intersections, leaving out any that fall inside the courtyard.
Result
Before writing it, I checked the geometry. None of the 30 grid intersections actually falls inside the courtyard: the courtyard spans 100'–130' east and 25'–55' south, and the nearest grid lines (4 at 101', 5 at 131', B at 24', C at 56') all sit just outside it. The exclusion still matters for points outside the L-shaped footprint, though, and the script checks for both.
The script parses. Now I'll run it in Dynamo, starting with a preview.
All 27 columns are placed (W Shapes-Column : W10X49). I'll set the Boolean back to False and check the plan.
I placed 27 steel columns, type W Shapes-Column : W10X49, one at every grid intersection inside the building. Each runs from L1 to L2, the top level in this model. They appear as small dots at the grid intersections in the L1 plan.
None of the intersections falls inside the courtyard. Grids 4, 5, B and C all pass just outside its walls, so the columns at B-4, B-5, C-4 and C-5 frame its four corners from the outside. The only three left out were E-1, E-2 and E-3, which fall in open ground south of the west wing.
W10X49 is a placeholder size for layout, not a design. Ask your structural engineer to size the columns, especially B-4, B-5, C-4 and C-5 at the courtyard corners, which will pick up extra load from the beams framing around the opening.
The script is in place_columns_at_grids.py and in your Dynamo Sender graph, with the Boolean set back to False. If you add levels later and run it again, it skips any intersection that already has a column.
AI Prompts
Placing Structural Grids
Prompt | Tool Options
🟢 = Autodesk Asst
🔵 = Revit MCP
🟣 = Python + Dynamo |
Place grids in my Revit model using Strategy A
Note: This is a follow up to asking for recommendation from the AI tool for placing structural grids based on an image of the building footprint. | 🟣 |
Place grids in my Revit model using this image as a guide | 🟣 |