Joe Fields
2009-12-17, 12:30 AM
I was going to do some load calcs on an existing building with about 20 floors. Someone said we had a Revit file already and I was thinking "Great, this will save all sorts of time if I can use Revit to do my loads". I proceeded to open the Revit file and start adding my spaces to do loads. Three floors in, I started thinking "This is going to take too long for simple schematic loads". This is because I would have to name and number all the rooms since the architect hadn't put any room info in the model. I know, I would have to name my rooms in my load program anyway, but the problem was that there were too many rooms drawn in the model already (i.e. individual offices). For preliminary loads I only really want some perimeter spaces and core spaces for different space types since there are lots of things that might be up in the air.
I then started thinking about a better way to run loads at early design stages in Revit and another program came to mind. Anyone who has ever done energy modeling knows about eQuest and in eQuest, there are SD and DD wizards to help you create an energy model during early design stages. The nice part about these wizards in eQuest is that they allow you to trace over a CAD file to create your building foot print. After you get your building foot print, you can define the zones, which for the perimeter exposures, you can set a value for the perimeter depth. It then will create perimeter zones at each wall exposure at the set perimeter depth and then zones for the interior space. The wizards also allow you to define % of either interior or perimeter zone floor space for various space types (i.e. office, corridor, restroom, lobby, etc.).
My point for this Revit MEP wish list item is, why can't we have either some tools or a wizard that would aid us in running load calcs at early design stages like this? Our Revit model already has the geometry for the shell and glazing and wall areas. Those wizards are great in early design since most of the programing is only % or square foot information instead of hard defined spaces and rooms like Revit wants to think of them as.
I then started thinking about a better way to run loads at early design stages in Revit and another program came to mind. Anyone who has ever done energy modeling knows about eQuest and in eQuest, there are SD and DD wizards to help you create an energy model during early design stages. The nice part about these wizards in eQuest is that they allow you to trace over a CAD file to create your building foot print. After you get your building foot print, you can define the zones, which for the perimeter exposures, you can set a value for the perimeter depth. It then will create perimeter zones at each wall exposure at the set perimeter depth and then zones for the interior space. The wizards also allow you to define % of either interior or perimeter zone floor space for various space types (i.e. office, corridor, restroom, lobby, etc.).
My point for this Revit MEP wish list item is, why can't we have either some tools or a wizard that would aid us in running load calcs at early design stages like this? Our Revit model already has the geometry for the shell and glazing and wall areas. Those wizards are great in early design since most of the programing is only % or square foot information instead of hard defined spaces and rooms like Revit wants to think of them as.