MEP Project Info Inquiry

[Mottiqua]

Hi all,
A few weeks ago I posted a poll on whether or not your company has submitted a project through CD's in Revit MEP. Six have said Yes, Six have not yet...but planning, and 1 has said they've backed out...
Now the second part of my question....can you tell me a little about the projects you're working on....You don't have to be detailed (for client confidentiality of course), but I would like to know the basics.... basic program, SF, building type, disciplines involved, and team size. I'm doing research for an article to be printed in Augi World.
Any information that you would be willing to give me would be great.
(private posts and emails would also work as well)

Thanks guys!!!! :)

[thoellering]

Hello. My name is Thomas, and I work as a mechanical drafter / designer for ASCG Incorporated in Anchorage, Alaska. I've worked with Cad for 20 years and Revit off and on for the last three years. I have yet do work on an actual project in MEP. I beta tested the previous System 1 & 2 Versions.

The most recent project we worked on that I could have used MEP was a modular camp for a client that constructs these portable housing units for various vendors - this particular module was for the North Slope. In the particular project I worked on (I used Revit Architectural), each module was constructed out of SIP (Structural Insulated Panels). Ten inch panels for the exterior walls with metal siding and Sheetrock/vapor barrier on the interior. Four inch SIP's were used in the interiors, with Sheet Rock on both sides (some extra here and there for 2 hour walls). Hollow tube steel column embedded inside the SIP's provided structural support.

The floor/roof was also constructed of ten inch SIPs. The floor was a particular hassle due to the nature of insulated panels. (1/2" or so of wood on either side, and insulation sandwiched between them). There are 12 modules stacked on top of 12 modules.

For the plumbing, it was critical to slope the piping to the ends of the units. Each unit was 53 foot long, by 12 foot wide and mounted on a very rugged steel frame with skids. Each module is modular, with living quarters at the ends, and offices, bathrooms etc in the center, divided with hallways. Think of a submarines modular construction.

All the piping and ductwork had to be exposed or enclosed in 2x4 stud walls. Wiring and lights also were exposed for the most part. Piping trenches for the plumbing was built up/down with various thickness SIP's in the flooring, blocked in, and sheeted over with plywood.

This project would have been a perfect candidate for a pumped or vacuum plumbing system - but the owners insisted on a gravity drainage system. We ended up drafting most fittings and for the waste & vent in Cad - it was a nightmare. With Revit MEP, this would have been as simple as selecting the fixtures (worst case: 1 shower, 1 toilet, 1 sink times 3 for a battery of 9 fixtures, and some floor drains) and using the sloping tools. Several engineers tried to work it out with numbers, but most engineers are not very familiar with fitting sizes, external diameter of same, and what type can be used on a Horizontal to Horizontal, Vertical to Horizontal or Horizontal to Vertical application (See Fig 7-13 of the UPC Training Manual, page 21, 2000).

Many hours of tedious work and research could have been avoided IF we had Revit MEP up and running at that time...I'm looking forward to trying out Revit MEP with these modular constructed units in the near future.


Thomas

[Mottiqua]

Thanks Thomas, great stuff, I appreciate your feedback!!
Modular construction, is this what your firm specializes in?

-Diane

[dmb.100468]

We currently have 2 projects that we are starting that will be done completely in Revit.

One is a renovation of a local community college building (approx. 35,000sf) which will be classrooms and meeting spaces. This is a challenge for us to learn the phasing capabilities of Revit.

The other is an 85,000sf, single story health care/patient housing facility. We are hoping to prove the benefits of Revit when it comes to unit-based design with this project.

We are a multi-discipline firm, so the project will be done using a single Revit model, utilizing worksets. Both projects will involve Arch and MEP as well as Civil. We will be importing the site work from Civil 3D.

[mike.weigle]

We currently have 2 projects that we are starting that will be done completely in Revit.

One is a renovation of a local community college building (approx. 35,000sf) which will be classrooms and meeting spaces. This is a challenge for us to learn the phasing capabilities of Revit.

The other is an 85,000sf, single story health care/patient housing facility. We are hoping to prove the benefits of Revit when it comes to unit-based design with this project.

We are a multi-discipline firm, so the project will be done using a single Revit model, utilizing worksets. Both projects will involve Arch and MEP as well as Civil. We will be importing the site work from Civil 3D.

Im really curious to see what you are seeing for file sizes.

From our experiences...one model would be the way to go. We are concerned with file size.

Our current project the Eng. model is about twice the size of the Arch. model.

If thats the case and your building is complicated, Im really curious to see how Revit handles a 150meg file containing all disciplines.

[dmb.100468]

We are anxious to see what happens to our file sizes also.

Our prototype project file size increased greatly once we started adding engineering systems. The only delays we have seen with that is opening the file and saving to central. The local files are stored on the user's hard drive.

The prototype is currently at 34Mb, but it is not a complete representation of the actual project (some sheets were not created because they were just a duplication of processes).

[JoelLondenberg]

Many hours of tedious work and research could have been avoided IF we had Revit MEP up and running at that time...I'm looking forward to trying out Revit MEP with these modular constructed units in the near future.


Thomas

I'm curious whether you have tried to duplicate your work in RMEP yet. Like everyone else, I'm keen to find the "better" way and if Revit ended up being the better way for you.

[Thomas Maleski]

I work for a multi discipline E/A Firm. We currently have about 4 Revit Arch & Structure projects out the door and in/about construction. We are working on three more Revit projects All Revit. The largest is a multi-use building of about 1 million SF. It has an underground parking facility, Retail, Gym and Restaurant on the 1st and 2nd floor and then various levels of housing and offices. This project is in 4 project files x 3 departments. The other two projects are smaller in size, a Fire Training and House facility and Warehouse. Projects in the planning stages are about 6 college dorms, some modular.

I don't expect to use Revit MEP on all of these projects or in a full role, but we are going to try our best.

[ahefner]

I guess we're "slow starters" as I'm the only one even trained in the program. I was hired on about 2 months ago and have been pushing RMEP as hard as I can (and of couse 2-3 of our major architectural clients have 100% gone to RArch or are about to, helps also). We're currently in the process of upgrading all the computers to reach RMEP capable, so hopefully soon we'll have more than just me.

We're a full MEP-S firm (S = survey) and currently have 2 Revit projects going. 1 is a mirror in Revit of what we have in AutoCAD and the second is going 100% (or as much as possible) in Revit. #1 is a 30,000SF church addition/remodel and the second I haven't even looked at yet, but I think another church remodel. But we expect a lot of all types of commercial coming down the pipeline from the archs which have gone 100% to Revit. And to be honest I think they're waiting on us to catch up (sending them to us in AutoCAD currently).

Currently the team consists of me and me! Hopefully by the end of August we'll have all the designers from MEP (10-12) up and running in RMEP and be producing SD-DD-CD-REV in RMEP with no AutoCAD (at least not for the projects we can get by with).

The project which I'm mirroring in RMEP started at 38mb and I'm adding on top of it.