Points to Ponder

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

• The goals are to create a legible design for all stakeholders involved. This includes the clients, the builders, and any other designers and engineers consulting on the project. This means that the model must be able to intuitively show the building’s layout and suggest its program, while also containing enough technical information for those handling the actual construction

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

• As the initial designs is being developed, what’s mostly important is the general envelope of the building and the program. This means that little detail is needed, and we should focus more on blocking out different spaces. As you continue to iterate, adding more detail such as doors, windows, and furniture, can clarify the specifics of the design, and may alter the overall form of the building. Eventually, more technical and ornamental detail can be added, as you prepare your model for its final drawings. This would mean completing your design by adding all the necessary detail for each stakeholder.

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

• If a designer uses a manufacturer’s model in their design, there’s a high chance that when the building is actually constructed that the clients will use that exact product. So, it’s extremely beneficial for manufacturers to provide easily accessible models of their products. For designers, this means that we have easy access to a wide range of actually-existing products which we can try out in our designs.