Tenant Work @ The Pyramids (Roche & Dinkeloo)

[tjk0225]

The Pyramids at College Park (College Life Insurance Company Headquarters)
Indianapolis, Indiana
Designed by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo (1972)

My office has recently been selected to provide tenant design services for this landmark facility. The buildings have recently changed owners and have a number of vacant spaces. The (3) towers total approximately 330,000 s.f.

We do quite a bit of this type of work and have started to transition to Revit over the past year. This project presents a unique opportunity in that we won't be able to obtain CAD drawings of the existing buildings. It is our intent to model each building in Revit and use the database to manage all of the tenant improvements. We are currently doing field verification work and developing building standard finishes for new tenants.

The current team involved with the project includes (3) Revit users and (2) AutoCAD/ADT users (current Revit users in training).

As we measure and model the existing buildings, we are trying to sort out standards for exactly how we want to implement certain features. So, I'm curious how others are managing these sorts of projects and what they have found to be the best practices for tenant improvements. Specifically:

Linked Files
Our current approach is to model each tower as a separate files and then link all three into a central file with site work

Worksets
Based on past projects, our initial thinking is to keep the worksets simple. The plan is to have a workset for: 1) exterior skin and the structural system, 2) Building core elements (stairs, elevators), 3) building amenities (toilet rooms, common spaces), 4) interior offices

Phases
Each new project (prospective tenant) that we do space planning for would be a separate phase. The struggle we are having with this is that phases can't be moved up or down from past to future (they come into the office in sequence but each prospect has a different time line - some move to construction faster than others, some never get built).

Design Options
Each space plan option would be a separate design option. For example, we may present 2-3 different layouts to a prospective tenant.

Even though we have not done a project of this scale in Revit, we are convinced (at least the Revit users are convinced) that it is the best tool for the job.

Thanks for your input!

[tjk0225]

Additional information on The Pyramids:

http://www.krjda.com/text/projectDetail.cfm?id=151
http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/pyramids.html
http://www.indypyramids.com/

[SCShell]

Hi there,

I do very similar type open ended contract T.I. work; however, not in such noteworthy buildings. Congrats!!

There are a lot of things you mention which I do. I don't use design options in Space Planning though, until the ultimate plan is selected and then we may have just a couple of minor plan options/revision options. Design options take a lot of work when they are plan issues, especially if you have existing construction and demo work involved. Each option has to have it's own "existing" item since options can't share elements. We just have separate files for each plan version until one is picked, then if options are needed, great.

Phasing is really helpfully!!!! I have been remodeling my own projects even in some of my buildings. You CAN cross phases. If you create a new project, say a remodel of a recently completed one, you can paste new construction items into an "existing view" and all items will show as existing. Cutting and pasting into views can be phase specific, as long as you set up your phase before pasting into it. This really helps when keeping files and doing open ended type TI work.

I also have a master building file which has the shell and all TI's as they are finished. I actually copy/paste the projects into the building model for an existing condition which is always current. This way, the next project suite is ready to work on by simply copy/pasting into a new project's "existing" view and starting the work. I then replace it into the building model when completed. (I don't duplicate with detailing for this record method.)

I don't use worksets since I am basically a one person firm. I also have separate files for every TI I do, plus the on-going complete building model. (One benefit of keeping an on-going model of the total building is that you can do really nice renderings which have all of the TI's included for turning lights on and off randomly for realistic night time views.)

I am not saying this is the best way to do this type of work; however, it has worked for me since using Revit since July of last year. It is a wonderfully tool!

Best of Luck
Steve Shell

[MikeJarosz]

Linked Files
Our current approach is to model each tower as a separate files and then link all three into a central file with site work


Keep in mind that schedules will not work across linked files. You will have 3 door schedules, 3 room schedules, 3 area reports etc...

[tjk0225]

I don't think we will need to schedule across all three towers. They are connected but if a tenant took space in more than one, we would probably separate schedules for each.

How 'clean' is copying/pasting a completed tenant back into the master file? Other than the detail information and annotations, does everything else come along for the ride?

Thanks for the input.

[SCShell]

Hi Tom,
If that question is for me, then...
Pasting is fine. I never copy over any notes, dimensions or anything other than the walls, ceilings etc. Basically, anything that I would normally show as "existing" when doing the next project remodel for that space. Kind of like an 'as-built', only better.
It is really nice to keep the overall building model current so that if a future Tenant wants a suite which is make up of several existing suites, then you just keep copying/pasting the existing suites into the new project. A real time saver for on-ging projects.

Hope this helps
Steve Shell

[tjk0225]

Not real impressive at this point - but here is the shell of one of the towers in Revit.

[Wes Macaulay]

Looking good!