Setting up high rise residential apartment blocks

[IVA]

My office and I are new to revit and have just worked on one project so far.

Our next project is an 8 storey 120 apartment tower block.

The tower will consist of just 2 or 3 apartment types repeated however there will be individual differences within the types externally such as balconies will vary in size and shape and corner apartments will have extra windows etc

The question I have is


Would the best approach for the apartment types be to:

A) Build each apartment type as a separate file including external walls and balconies and link into a central file and stack on top of each other.This would mean having to build multiples of each type ie A1 (small balcony) A2 (large balcony) A3 (ground floor courtyard) A4 (corner apartment)

B) Build external walls and balconies and common areas in a central file and link in the interior (including internal walls) of each apartment type

C) Link in only bathrooms and kitchens with all internal walls being in the central file.

Note: the building will not be modular construction

Cheers Bernard

[stelthorst]

Hi Bernard,

Please *note* I have moved this thread from the AutoCAD Architecture forum to this one as I feel it will be better served here.

[greg.mcdowell]

I would tend towards option 2 assuming you can get the unit types consistent that way. If the walls will still need to change between, for example, two Type A's then I'd go with option 3. Basically, whatever is consistent between units should be grouped or linked depending on your strategy.

[renogreen]

I don't see what you are gaining with any of these approaches. One important thing to remember is that linking is NOT the same as xrefs in Autocad. I have done a couple of towers in Revit. The method I used was to use groups. I modeled all exterior walls and corridor walls. I created groups of each unit type, interior walls, furniture, etc. and copied those groups around as I needed them. If a unit type changes you can modify the group and all of your copies of that group will update.

[greg.mcdowell]

How is Linking not the same as Xreffing?

Both options, using groups and using linked files, are appropriate to what the OP is trying to achieve. They each have their pros and cons.

When I've tried using groups I've had problems with them breaking. When I switched to using linked files those problems went away. For us it was the better solution but, as usual, your mileage may vary.

[sbrown]

If its one building, Groups and worksets, if the typical apartment needs to go into multiple buildings than links.

[Alex Page]

It depends on a lot of variables on whether just to use worksets, or worksets and links. To name a few:
1. How many people are on the project: are there different "teams"? Links are very useful at disignating different areas of responsibities. An example is the interior design team not being able to change the Base Building modelling (facade/column etc either intentionally or by mistake). Also its a real pain when an interior designer moves an interior partition which is "touching" an exterior wall and cant move it because one of the facade members have "ownership" of that wall.....
2. How complex is the project: Efficiencies are gained with links (ie: can unload certain worksets, facade team dont have 100's of furniture items in there file etc, interior team dont have any siteworks)
3. How is the project documentation being handled/ordered/ staged etc: If you are spliting your documentation into different parts, say a "Basebuilding" set and a "Interior" worksharing and links are fine. If its all in one big documentation set, un split up then you may want to just use worksets: There are inefficences in using Links for this.


Personally, if you have a big team, I reckon you should use a link for the base building, but you need to completely get your head around item 3. before you make that desicion.

[Alex Page]

When I say use links as above, I envisage the Interiors team do the following:
1. Link in the base building
2. Draw in the tenancy walls etc etc
3. group the apartments and copy them around
4. BUT try and make the kitchens, bathrooms etc ONE family as much as possible (ie Instead of lot of casework units, ovens, fridges etc, make a (unparametric) family of the whole kitchen with the units nested in. This works alot better in groups.

[dandlf]

I have tried both approaches of Linked models and also Grouped apartment types.
I think both are acceptable and neither is perfect.

I would advise to read, re-read then answer Alex's 3 very good questions above as that will inform you on which route to take.

1. How many people are on the project
2. How complex is the project
3. How is the project documentation being handled/ordered/ staged.

In my current office we have 100+ tech staff across, Arch, Str, Interiors, ME& P, all on a live project so I strive to minimize linked models as we always start most projects with a minimum of 4 models then work our ways upwards.

Best bet is to define a strategy for Worksets and then work your way backwards from there.