Module 3 - Points to Ponder

Why is it important to accurately model the land features of your project site with a toposurface?

• What aspects of a building design are most affected by the terrain features?
• It is important for many reasons. Cost is one factor, as you will have a lot more issues down the road if you don’t accurately model it originally. The dirt and rocks will have to be moves away, workers paid, timeline adjusted, all things you didn’t account for if you didn’t model accurately. The environment and local habitat is also a consideration, and a designer should be mindful of the impact their decisions will have. In a similar vein, by integrating the environment, it will have more aesthetic appeal.

When designing a project...

• It depends on if you have a site in mind or not! For structural elements, the architect should not compromise the safety of the building and/or occupants for a more harmonious design. In those cases, they should manipulate the environment. However, if it is in a city, the designer should adhere to their lot.

Describe a case when it would be worthwhile to create a new custom component in Revit… How do you decide when customize versus using readily available components?

I actually was thinking of this! I ended up using some kitchen components from BIMObject, but it took a long time before I found some that I wanted to use. It could be interesting to add custom furniture, especially if you are the manufacturer of said furniture.

Some examples of when you might want to design a new component would be:

If the shape of the room is not regular

If you want a variation of the readily made design (customization versus fully custom)

The size of the room calls for it