Santiago High Students win with Revit

[bill0246]

Hope this is cool with the group....

Santiago students placed 1st and 2nd in the State of California in Architectural Drafting using Revit 9 as their tool of choice. Brennan Spillman took second and Jessica Roth won and will represent the state of California in Architectural Drawing against the top students in the nation in the SkillsUSA/VICA National Championships. Only the top student from each state is in the competition. This is the 4th year in a row a Santiago High student utilized Revit as a tool to win the California State Architecture title!

[truevis]

I've had a theory for a long time that if teenagers would use the mental power that they expend on video games doing Revit, they could go far. (And make money with it eventually, too.)

Got some images?

Excerpt from http://investors.autodesk.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117861&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=711719&highlight= :
Santiago High School Wins Design Awards

To prepare students for the rigors of college coursework and increase their marketability to employers, progressive high schools are also introducing students to building information modeling using Revit Building. Santiago High School in Corona, California, was recently recognized for its teaching excellence when three students took home top honors at the statewide design competition, SkillsUSA Architectural Drafting Combo 2005. The contest required students to solve "real-world" design challenges including: sketching, creating working drawings, and revising drawings. Each student received a student copy of Revit Building from Autodesk educational reseller Paton and Associates, and first place winner Stephen Helms will compete in the SkillsUSA/VICA National Championships which will be held in Kansas City, Missouri in June.

"Students were able to experiment with different layouts and elevation appearances without panicking about time constraints," said Bill Brown, teacher at Santiago High School. "The schedules were never a problem because Revit Building tracks changes automatically, so customizing schedules to the judge's criteria took only a few minutes."

[Joef]

I can't imagine a better, smarter software to help a young (or old) student learn about building design. Congratulations!

[ajayholland]

Our secondary and post-secondary education system needs many more visionaries like Bill Brown. As far as I’m concerned, he should be in charge of building technology curriculum for the entire state of California.

Great work, Bill!

~AJH

[kpaxton]

Bill,
Gratz man!! Sounds like your students are a'rockin and a'rollin with Revit! Ummm, how come it's been awful quiet in here??? I haven't seen any posts to mangle....er... critique!!! LOL. Any pics of what your students produced to win??? We would love to see!

Kyle

[Brian Myers]

Congrats and thanks for posting that! That's a wonderful thing for your students as well as your program. Curious: do you have a syllabus discussing your typical curriculum? I'd be interested in knowing how you've developed your students in this field typically left open by drafting programs that focus on drawing parts more than understanding how to design structures. Your work is indeed to be commended. :beer:

One again, Congrats!

[bill0246]

Thanks for asking!. Way too much info for an email.....but here's a bit:

Santiago High has a pathway of 5 classes that prepare students for their "next level".
We start them off with board drafting (multiviews, layout, dimensioning, lettering, isometrics, etc). The second class is board Architecture. I have them DESIGN a 1300 SQ FT house with lots of guidance, in a Spanish character. They produce Floor, Elevations, Site, Int. Elevations, Foundation, construction details, and Roof Plans. We start w/ bubble plans and 1/8 scale one line floor plan to mass the house.
2nd year is AutoCAD with more of the above, plus more CD's
3rd year is the first Revit class, Architecture Design. Each assignment starts with a program: 4000SQ FT, 4 bed, 3-1/2 ba, small lot, specific architectural character, etc. They bubble, create concept elevation and floor skecthes, before beginning in Revit. Once they get to Revit, I spoon feed them Revit as they advance through the project. (I do give them an exercice to do a building that accesses them to the Revit interface before starting the project). I have them for 180 hours over the course of a year...we have alot of time to ploblem solve and create using/learning Revit as a tool.
4th year they know the program pretty well....they can challenge themselves with more difficult programs that stretch their Revit knowledge (creating tough families, smarter walls, roofs, materials that tag properly, more accurate details....).
Last year, I had more job offers than students avaliable. The economy is pretty good here in Southern California!
This message is a bit wordy....SORRY!!!
I attached a couple of work samples. Not necessarily done/perfect. We are revising CD's right now.

[modulor]

Bill,
That is really awsome work for HS students! Wish I had Revit back then, but I'm glad to hear your teaching some hand-drafting too. Back in the 80s my school, Reseda HS, used to win some of those competitions. And my teacher got us jobs too.
That drafting class was a huge influence in my career.

[bill0246]

Revit has given me a better tool to teach the way a building goes together, massing, even ceiling heights in a room and how it "feels". It makes the students more aware of how their design decisions effect both the exterior and interior. We spend less time on making CD's
"pretty" and more time on constructing the building properly (even though we have a long way to go).

We still teach the board....think their are many basics covered that CAD just doesn't do well (scale, sketching, hand lettering, projection, layout, etc).

Wish I had Revit in high school too!

Thanks for the positive comments! It was a risk to change my Architecture Design class from ADT to Revit. I was worried Revit would be Softdesk and be phased out. Very few are (still) committed to Revit, but the ones that are, are progressive companies that make good places for my students to get their start.

[tc3dcad60731]

I agree with all here.... Congratulations!!!!

Like Brian I would like to know how you have developed this course also! I graduated from the local tech college years ago and we had a small hand full of classes that taught using cad for floor plans. The big emphasis was part drawings and detailing.

Now if you want to go arch. drafting it is a certificate only and you have ONE class that teaches Revit. They still use ACAD for the basic stuff and ADT for the actual house design and that is it!

[bill0246]

Regarding course creation, I am not sure what you are looking for. If my answer is going the wrong direction, please let me know.

My Revit class (actually called Architectural Design) is the 4th in a sequence of classes designed to prepare students for university architecture programs, community college programs or just straight to work.

The class focuses on residential design. Students are given a carefully thought out program to follow...they do not just draw what they want. They use Revit to mass, create CD's, and presentation drawings.

Learning Revit has been a bit of a challenge since few know the program and even fewer can teach it properly. I have had a lot of help from Jay Holland, Scott Davis, and Jim Balding to name a few.....showing me and my students their tips and tricks as well as connecting me with other Revit users.

The CD set the students produce will include: Floor Plans, Exterior Elevations, Building Sections, Wall Sections, Detail Sections, Schedules, Electrical Plans, Roof Plan, Slab Foundation Plan, Interior Elevations, Site plan with Topo, Color Fill/Presentation Plans, Exterior 3D model w/ materials applied....all annotated.

They are pretty good with controlling the display properties in Revit. We cover view properties, crop regions, view visibility, freezing strategies, scope boxes, vew range, etc. We do basic family creation and students are well aware of their resources online.

Hope I have answered your question....but if not, again, please let me know.