How much detail should you include about wall, floor and roof composition at different stages?
◦ Conceptual design
Not even thickness. Simply the general form of the building and how big-picture spaces interact with each other. This should focus on program, circulation, and design.
◦ Preliminary design
Thickness should be accounted for. This building should be physically plausible were these walls, floors, and roof to be placed together.
◦ Design development
Materials should be selected. You should know the layers of materials in all of your elements and how they will interact with each other.
◦ Construction documentation
Nail placements, Stud locations, etc. EVERYTHING should be accounted for as it would stand in the real world
Many manufacturers provide Revit families for their products.
◦ What is the advantage to the manufacturer of giving them away?
Developers will be much more likely to use their product in real construction if they have already been planning around using a product of that specific size in Revit.
◦ What is the benefit to you of using them over the generic library families?
You can plan for a REAL product and know that it will be physically possible. You no longer have to worry about whether you will need to move a wall or building element down the road.
◦ At what point does it become appropriate to switch from generic to manufacturer specific?
certainly by the point of construction, but likely around the point of finalized design documents, as you don’t want to have to change any building elements at that point.
The core is located early and moved rarely.
◦ Why does it get fixed before most of the building?
It cannot move from level to level. When you choose to place it, that decision is permanent and will dictate how the elements of every other floor will have to be placed to accommodate it.
◦ What are the consequences of a core that does not stack vertically?
It becomes incredibly expensive or even completely impossible. An elevator in your core cannot change positions per level. That would require separate elevators, which are insanely expensive and completely nonsensical.
◦ What did locating the core force you to change about your Week 3 layout?
It made me change some walls that were inconsistent between floors. But honestly, that improved my design. Cohesion is important.