Are you a new student of architecture? Has your professor told you that Revit is not a “design” tool? Are you unsure where to begin in terms of which computer aided design (CAD) software you should be selecting to begin your creative design journey? Have no fear! Read on to discover how to approach your designs completely in Revit without the need to work in multiple modeling environments such as Rhino or Sketchup to achieve the design aesthetic you are after.
What is Revit?
Revit is an Autodesk software product made for use by design professionals developing both commercial and residential buildings. While the original program was focused on serving the needs of architects, it has continued to grow its feature set to include design workflows for every major discipline on a building project such as structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) engineers.
One of the primary features of Revit that set it apart from other CAD software programs is its ability to have multiple designers from multiple disciplines working in the same model at the same time. The term is referred to as a “Central Model” that contains all the elements of a design project such as walls, doors, windows, rooms, furniture, columns, beams, etc… all the elements of a project in the digital model. It is common practice for each discipline to create their own central model to maintain a clear delineation between scope of work. Typically more complex projects are setup by a Design Technology professional to ensure models are configured properly at the project outset so teams can collaborate and coordinate their solutions efficiently with confidence.
BIM is also a term you’ll hear a lot. BIM is an acronym standing for “Building Information Modeling” and is a more specific approach to using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software such a Revit to author a model that has useful data related to the project embedded inside the model to streamline documentation and coordination. Essentially every element in the model can carry data. The most concrete examples are elements like doors and furniture but even elements to help stay organized in Revit and compose a drawing set such as sheets and views can be embedded with data. To understand how Revit structures it’s data with various parameter types, we explore this topic in depth here.
In short, Revit is the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry’s primary tool to document and deliver designs for permitting from the local Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) where the project will eventually be built.
Some inspiration. If you can dream it, you can do it. Modeling tools now allow us to visualize our design in a whole new way making new avenues of construction possible. Images courtesy of Gensler.com
In recent years, the advancement of cloud technology has accelerated especially with world events in 2020 resulting in much of the workforce transitioning to working from home almost overnight. For Autodesk, they pushed the development of BIM 360 now known as the Autodesk Construction Cloud which allowed the possibility of collaborating of Revit models around the world accessed anywhere on the planet with an internet connection and computer. With this new technology we expect the size of teams to only get larger as new ventures push the limits of how much space can be developed with a cohesive and consistent design vision.
Why does this matter?
Once you understand the fundamentals of how Revit works at its core it is much easier to see how to work with the tool as part of a larger team. We unpack the mental model and technical workflows in our Revit Core Practice course. If you want the most cohesive and comprehensive training on the market for Revit, head over to the 7fold Academy and get your seat in the Revit Core Practice course today. The articles we share here are geared to address frequently asked questions, debunk misunderstandings, and bring clarity on topics where there is often a lot of confusion for both entry level staff and leadership alike.
Why the confusion?
Because Revit started out as a more efficient alternative to AutoCAD for the production of construction drawings, it quickly earned a reputation of being only good for documenting a building. My how the times have changed! Revit has expanded its capability to receive complex geometry as well as have creative modeling features of its own to develop elegant forms typically only shaped in other environments such as Rhino, 3DS Max, or Maya. The point is that many folks peg Revit to be good only for one activity (documentation) and don’t consider the value of all it’s design tools and the benefit of staying in a single model environment.
Have no fear! We will be exploring these design-oriented workflows here at 7fold so you can feel equipped and empowered to select the approach that best suits the needs and style of your project vision.
Here are some commonly overlooked features that could be harnessed for interesting designs worth looking into:
- Conceptual Massing
- Adaptive Components
- Divided Surfaces and Divided Curves
- Dynamo for panel rationalization or panel placement
- Walls that slant or taper (Revit 2021+)
- Load custom profile families created with parametric controls to make project-specific adjustments. When you load a profile into a family or the project, it can be reused in multiple places such as stair railings, balusters, edge of slab shapes, or custom in-place components to follow any curve you create.
- In the family environment, model 3D points in space then connect together using the ‘Spline Through Points’ draw command. The spline curve will now change depending on how you place those points. There are a number of ‘rigging’ workflows we will explore here at 7fold so stay tuned!
- Load a family into a family. Nesting is common for furniture assemblies such as a typical dining chair controlling the number of chairs surrounding the table depending on spacing rules and the size of the table. It get’s even more interesting when you explore patterning styles with a set of nested families to copy around into unique patterns.
What you can do
Discover how to leverage the best that Revit has to offer right here at 7fold. We are committed to providing you both a fast track to learn what you need to know to secure that ideal internship or entry level architecture job. However we will continue to unpack more advanced workflows that practitioners of every skill level may be inspired by! If you have a specific problem or topic you want featured, make a request here.
What’s Next?
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