Historic Preservation in Revit

[BDR_Architect]

Has anyone out there used Revit for Historic Preservation? Do you typically model the detailing on ornate facades or to you draw it on the elevations? I realize it's pretty easy to do moldings and custom windows but what about the other things?

if you have images, please share if you don't mind.

Thanks

[david_peterson]

We received a model from an Archie that had every contour of the cladding modeled. They also modeled everything inside the building. Model was huge, but they needed it for historic preservation requirements prior to the remodel. So Yes, it's been done. If you're truly doing Preservation drawings/model I don't think I'd be drawing a lot of line work over an elevation, but it depends and what the client requirements are. Do you actually need to produce drawings, or just a highly accurate model?

[BDR_Architect]

Thanks for the response Dave. For the most part, we need to produce drawings. In some cases, we'll need a highly accurate model. But I think there is a benefit to building a model to some level of detail for every instance. I'm just getting a lot of resistance from the newbies and they say it can't be done at all (HP drawings in Revit). I think it's more of a level of understanding how to do it issue.

[david_peterson]

Something else that you may want to look at as a great modeling tool is a laser scanner to create point clouds. They're a great tool. And I think you can get them on the cheap these days. We had a guy in here trying to sell our firm one and you could get it for about $25k. Just a thought if this is something you guys do alot. You can take measurements and create objects from them when linked in to Revit. Something you may want to look into.

[mthurnauer]

We have done it on a pretty large building and I loved the experience. We recreated the model of the original building from the original building drawings (pen on cloth) The interior level of detail was determined per space as to what was necessary and what work would be done in the renovation/ preservation. It was pretty amazing to recreate some of the very ornate interiors from the drawings and go to field-verify the conditions only to find out that the building was almost always spot-on to the drawings I was also impressed to see how consistent the documents were: Structural had steel dimensioned to the third decimal point, arch would dimension sections and details in feet/ inches, and elevations would show things laid out based on coursing and they all agreed with each other everywhere....something often not found since the introduction of CAD.

[jsteinhauer]

Or the level of craftsmanship has lessened over the decades. I wonder how many sheets there were for the pyramids? Design intent used to mean something, other then RFI's and Change Orders.

Cheers,
Jeff S.

[david_peterson]

Part of that is also that the builders of years past actually knew what they were doing. CRSI used to mean something to a concrete guy. 7 story buildings would required about 15 sheets of structural drawings. Today, that same building would require 75. Back then, Contractors actually took responsibility for their work. Now they call and ask you to tell them what to do to fix their mistake. Now I have to add a detail that shows every connection and lap length in a structure. Designers used to look at masonry and build to a masonry dimension. Estimators looked at things like liner foot of wall. Now Masonry Dims be damned. Pull the outside of the building in by 2" to reduce the square footage to reduce the cost even though now your mason is going to have to cut every block and end up with a ton of waste. We design things to look pretty, not to function or be efficient. We do things today with materials that contractors of years thought were unthinkable.