Over 4,500,000 sf (over 420,000m2) single Building, intricate design...

[luigi]

...is it too much for Revit?
I guess we'll find out, we are well underway! :)

As soon as I can (because of the sensitivity of the project) I will post what I am able to...until then.....

[truevis]

I expect that you'll have to break it up and link it back together for performance reasons. I suggest you plan accordingly because breaking it up mid-project is difficult.

[btrusty]

without knowing the scope of the project...

is there a chance to put different disciplines in different revit files?
is there a chance to put different phases in different revit files?
or as truevis said, if you need to break-up the building into separate revit files - do it early!

a project that i recently did, was 3 buildings on a site
each building had a separate ARCH, STRUCT revit files (mep was still in cad)
there was a separate arch file for the overall site plan and shared canopies (which also had sheet from one of the building sets in the site plan for the compartmentalization of files and ease of details for the canopies.

[dhurtubise]

You will need to break it up and were not even talking bout disciplines here. If you are to go to CA with that building in Revit it will be broken down. If it's only CD-SD you might beableto get away with it :-)

[luigi]

We have 16 arch revit files divided by either complexity of the design (skin vs. just shell and core) or by the shell and core and interior, plus 1 file for levels and grids....so a total of 17 files. Then of course we have similar amount of files for other disciplines. So yes, it's divided up quite a bit (from the get go).

[ghale]

Nobody's asked the question. Does your hardware meet the recommended specs? You can certainly get away with alot more with better hardware and it will be well worth your money to invest in good workstations now. In Revit 2010 and previous versions, we equate the breakup of a model to construction costs to keep the file size down. 1 file should not exceed $25 mil in construction cost or 150 MB of memory. Obviously, this is debatable on the type of bulding and scope of work, but it has worked for us. Revit 2011 has shown better performance so far so this may change a little for the better. Discpline files are always necessary no matter the size of the project. Shell and Core files are common. Inerior fitouts files are common as well. Hope this helps. Sounds like you'll have your hands full for a while.

[twiceroadsfool]

We have 16 arch revit files divided by either complexity of the design (skin vs. just shell and core) or by the shell and core and interior, plus 1 file for levels and grids....so a total of 17 files. Then of course we have similar amount of files for other disciplines. So yes, it's divided up quite a bit (from the get go).

Now THATS my kind of Project! Cant wait to see it in action. :)

[luigi]

Intel Xeon 2.07Ghz, 12 GB ram....video card doesn't perform so well - NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 GB total ram.....other computers might have 8gb ram for the cpu. I only feel problems with regerating the graphics....and for now...it is revit 2010...maybe I'll test the performance of 2011 on this project and maybe after next week we'll upgrade.


I have yet to add a file for the site and a file for a specific structure...so it will be 18 architectural files...plus at least 9 structural files. MEP is only taking it to SD, but they might have 9 files as well. Hmm...36 files? Sounds like a lot... :D



Nobody's asked the question. Does your hardware meet the recommended specs? You can certainly get away with alot more with better hardware and it will be well worth your money to invest in good workstations now. In Revit 2010 and previous versions, we equate the breakup of a model to construction costs to keep the file size down. 1 file should not exceed $25 mil in construction cost or 150 MB of memory. Obviously, this is debatable on the type of bulding and scope of work, but it has worked for us. Revit 2011 has shown better performance so far so this may change a little for the better. Discpline files are always necessary no matter the size of the project. Shell and Core files are common. Inerior fitouts files are common as well. Hope this helps. Sounds like you'll have your hands full for a while.

[luigi]

Ok guys, the SD package of Phase 1 of a 4,500,000sf project is complete. Here's a short breakdown.
Architecture=18 files
Architectural Composite file used as a way to link all files (consisting of 9 zones - AD, EH, RD, PT, Parking Deck, Labs, SD, CC, MDP)

Architectural Files
Grid/Level File
Site File
AD=2 files (CoreShell and Interior)
EH= 1 file
RD= 3 file (Skin, Core and Interior)
PT=2 files (CoreShell and Interior)
Parking Deck = 1 file
Labs = 3 files (Lab NW, Lab NC and Lab NE)
SD=1 file
CC=1 file
MDP=1 file

MEP files = 11 (MP composite and E composite plus 8 zones)
Structural files = 10 (composite and 7 zones)

Total = 39 files

More information at a later date...now we concentrate on Phase 2

[mgrauer]

The big issue isnt having alot of linked files..its how you divide your sheets and make your references. How have you decided to divide your sheets and key your details?

[twiceroadsfool]

The big issue isnt having alot of linked files..its how you divide your sheets and make your references. How have you decided to divide your sheets and key your details?

Its not a big deal. There are settings made for it, if the models are built correctly. Ive had sets of drawings with almost 20 models. No big deal.

[luigi]

Architecturally we decided to treat the documentation in "volumes" so we had 5 zones in phase 1, and we had sheets in 5 volumes (composite, AD, EH, RD and PT). Structurally they documented everything from their composite... Both systems worked very well.

The big issue isnt having alot of linked files..its how you divide your sheets and make your references. How have you decided to divide your sheets and key your details?