Points to Ponder - Chloe Johansson Hoffman

Submitted For
Module 2 - Points to Ponder
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Please share your comments on 3 of the following Points to Ponder questions. (Choose 3 of the 5 questions below.)

What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?

The primary goal of creating a building model is to visualize, coordinate, and communicate a design throughout all stages of a project. A model enables designers to test ideas, evaluate spatial relationships, and detect conflicts early, reducing costly changes during construction. It also serves as a central database for geometry, materials, and performance information.

Architects and Designers: need an accurate representation of form, space, and materials to communicate aesthetic and functional intent.

Clients and Owners: care about design quality, cost, sustainability, and how the space supports their needs.

Contractors and Fabricators: require detailed, constructible models that accurately represent assemblies, dimensions, and material specifications.

How much detail should you include in your building model? How do you decide?

The amount of detail in a model depends on the design phase and the purpose of the model. Over-detailing too early wastes time, while under-detailing later can cause coordination issues.

  • Initial Design (Conceptual): focus on massing, orientation, and general spatial organization. Keep detail minimal; volumes, basic openings, and site relationships.
  • Preliminary Design: refine geometry and layout; add major structural and envelope elements. Include representative materials and key dimensions but not construction-level detail.
  • Design Development: increase fidelity—accurate walls, floors, roofs, windows, and structural systems. Add material layers, thicknesses, and basic mechanical and electrical layouts.
  • Construction Documentation: the model should reach a high level of detail. Every assembly, material layer, joint, and dimension must be accurate enough for fabrication and construction.

Many door and window manufacturers provide Revit families for doors and windows that you can specify for your building design.

Advantages for Manufacturers:

Creating Revit families allows manufacturers to promote their products directly to designers. It serves as a form of marketing. If a designer uses a manufacturer’s digital component, it often gets built into the final project.

Benefits for Designers:

Using manufacturer-provided families ensures high accuracy in dimensions, materials, and performance data, reducing manual modeling work. Compared to generic Revit library components, these are more realistic and data-rich, supporting better coordination and energy or cost analysis.