What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
The Field Research Station building model has the primary goal of providing a practical design for a workspace to be used by student researchers at a biological reserve. They need a spacious, open space to do research within a small research station; additionally, they also aim to uphold sustainable practices by having solar panels in the station. Thus, the primary focus of this project is use, sustainability, and also adherence to budget while following a simple design that students can follow and build.
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.
- What is the advantage to manufacturers for providing these families?
- Door and window manufacturers benefit by providing Revit families for their products since design specifications for certain models and sizes for windows and doors in the design plan would lead the project in the construction phase to purchase their products.
- What is the benefit to you as the designer of using these manufacturer-provided families? Is there an advantage to using them versus the families provided in the Revit library?
- The benefit of using these manufacturer-provided families is the certainty that the specific models and sizing of the windows and doors are available in the market for purchase. The designs of these product also appear more complex and aesthetic, resulting in a more developed design model.
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?
Using the Revit component families from the manufacturer has substantial advantage since the responsibility for the precision of the measurements is placed on the manufacturer. Additionally, websites like RevitCity.com may feature components that are outdated and could possibly no longer be manufactured and sold; finding out about the inexistence of a certain component during construction could lead to increased costs and delays in the project. Finally, planning for exactly the specs of the components in the design process allows for wall modeling and space optimization with the certainty that the components are exactly as modeled and can be purchased/found.