How much detail should you include about wall, floor and roof composition at different stages?
◦ Conceptual design
Very little detail, typically only the thickness of each aspect. The goal of conceptual design is to understand mass, area, and spatial relationships, so the materials are not important.
◦ Preliminary design
Simple assemblies with approximate thicknesses and general system type are sufficient for preliminary design.
◦ Design development
More detailed materials and thicknesses are important for design development. Layers should also be assigned functions, like structure, thermal, or membrane. These details are important for collaboration between mechanical, electrical, and structural engineers.
◦ Construction documentation
Exact materials and thicknesses are required for construction documentation. These details are required for scheduling and project drawing specifications.
You moved a design from Forma into Revit this week.
◦ What survived intact, and what did you rebuild?
◦ What does that tell you about what each tool is for?
◦ Knowing where the handoff lands, what would you do differently in Forma next time?
Many manufacturers provide Revit families for their products.
◦ What is the advantage to the manufacturer of giving them away?
If the product is modelled in the project, designers are more likely to use it, rather than finding another product from a competitor that is more difficult to create. Additionally, by providing the details within Revit, there is less room for mistakes and misuse, which the manufacturer would have to coordinate with the design team in the future.
◦ What is the benefit to you of using them over the generic library families?
The products are accurate, which can lead to less errors and mishap later down the line in construction. Additionally, by having existing products, it reduces design time, which speeds up the entire process.
◦ At what point does it become appropriate to switch from generic to manufacturer specific?
It’s important to switch to manufacturer specific products in design development and construction documentation, because at that point in the project, it is important to get the details correct.
The core is located early and moved rarely.
◦ Why does it get fixed before most of the building?
◦ What are the consequences of a core that does not stack vertically?
◦ What did locating the core force you to change about your Week 3 layout?
Your Insight result did not match your Forma result.
◦ What accounts for the difference?
The difference is due to the different wall assemblies. In Forma, I chose a generic wood frame material for my building, whereas in Revit I designed each element within the wall assembly. Therefore, the varying values in carbon are entirely dependent on what materials are chosen. In Revit, I had a higher total carbon value, because of the insulation I added to the wall assemblies. Because of the added insulation and thus greater R-values, the Revit design had lower energy use intensities as compared to Forma.
◦ Which number would you show a client, and how would you explain the gap?
I would show the numbers for Module 4, because they include the actual materials to be used in designing the building. Forma is better for comparisons between rough wall designs, but Revit shows you the actual carbon and energy to be expected. I would explain the gap by describing the difference in detail between the models, including wall assembly granularity.
◦ Does a more detailed model automatically produce a more trustworthy prediction?
Typically a more detailed model produces a more trustworthy prediction. However, there are instances where too much detail may cause the model to overestimate values and lose accuracy. Although, generally low detail models are better for comparison, whereas detailed models are better for predicting exact values.