What are the primary goals of creating a building model? Who are the key stakeholders?
- What do they need?
The primary goals of creating a building model are to communicate design and engineering parameters in a concise format that is easily understood. The stakeholders are either people who are funding the project, or the people building/designing the project. These stakeholders need the key design specifications and details to execute construction or enough information to prompt them to fund the project.
- What do they care about most?
Investors will care the most about the potential profit/upside/benefit of the investment. Designers will care the most that their design is a) executed, and b) communicated as they desire. Builders will care that the key details they need to execute the design are laid out.
How much detail should you include in your building model? How do you decide?
- As you develop your initial design?
As much as possible, since this is your brainstorming stage. This is really important.
- As you continue to iterate and develop on your design?
As much as possible.
- What are the key stages?
Brainstorming, Refinement/iteration, critique, polishing/finalizing
- And how much detail should you include at each stage?
As much as possible until you are at the final stage, when you strip down unimportant information.
How much detail should you include about the composition (layers, materials, thicknesses) of your wall, floor, and roof assemblies at different stages of your design process?
- Conceptual design
- Preliminary design
- Design development
- Construction documentation
Many door and window manufacturers provide Revit families for doors and windows that you can specify for your building design.
- What is the advantage to manufacturers for providing these families? (it's not free to create and provide them...)
By providing these families, designers are accustomed/expect certain things from the windows IRL in relation to their designs. This familiarity gives incentive to actually use these manufacturers when purchasing windows for actual construction.
- What is the benefit to you as the designer of using these manufacturer-provided families? Is there an advantage to using them versus the families provided in the Revit library?
They provide more flexibility in terms of customizability of design.