Demolition and phase filters

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Is it possible to demolish several elements at once? I have to demo a large chunk of a 5 storey building which will be extremely time consuming if I have to go through each level and click on each element with the Demo hammer individually. 

Also, I have created a new project phase so I now have;

1. Existing 

2. Demolition 

3. New Construction

This file contains a cloud-point survey model which I have linked into my design model. I just want to check that setting up the Demolition phase was the correct thing to do? The project involves merging new construction with existing buildings, parts of which will be demolished. I read somewhere online that creating an extra phase might confuse matters down the line? I don't want to make any obvious mistakes early on.

Lastly, is there a way to reverse the demolition in Revit if we decide that a particular element is no longer being removed?

Thanks in advance for any help,

Rory

[rosskirby · Accepted solution]

You don't need a separate demolition phase.  Demolition is an action that occurs during new construction.  Create 2 views, one for your demolition plan and one for your new construction plan.  For the demo plan, set the phase to New Construction and the phase filter to "Show previous + demo".  For the new construction plan, set the phase to New Construction and the phase filter to "Show previous + new."

If you want to mass-demo multiple objects, just drag a crossing window around them and change their "Phase Demolished" property to "New Construction".

[Anonymous]

Ross,

Many thanks for your reply.

I will follow your advice in relation to the use of project filters.

And thanks for the tip on mass-demo. This is working reasonably well for me.

Kind regards,

Rory

[damo3]

I would add to ross post on recommending an existing view. This is where you model anything exisitng so it automatically lies within the exisiting phase. You wouldnt actuslly use this view in your documentation set. (Covered by the demo).

I would also recommend renaming those filters to something more friendly. OTB filters are too many and difficult to use for beginners.

Eg: 4 filters named as followed:
current view only
Demolition works documentation
Exisitng conditions docs
New works documentation.

[PDHStudentOfWisdom]

But it is safe to say that terminology here can be tweaked some. Because there is an ambiguity with there being multiple terms for the same function...although it does broaden perspective especially for potential office environments. For the beginner (like myself and though I am a beginner I am a intermediate beginner closing in on advanced beginner) it can be somewhat imposing. For example: The Show Previous plus Demo filter that is referring to Show Existing Phase and Show Demolition Phase. But, many, intelligent in the Revit Community, say that a Demolition Phase is not needed and that Demolition is a Phase Status Condition and not a Phase but the Phase Status Conditions are: 1. Existing (which is a Phase); 2. Demolished (which some say should not be a Phase I personally find it easier to conceptualize if it as a Phase however); 3. New (short for New Construction (which is a Phase) and 4. Temporary (which holds the same category regard as Demolished above).

Another example of the terminology learning curve would be in the example of Detail View and Section Callout. Would I ask Revit to change those types of things about terminology? Eh, maybe at first I would have, but now I am so "all in" that I almost embrace them as hurdles on a track field.

[narenvangamudi]

Hi Mr.Ross,

I agree to what you said about there is no 'demo' phase but it happens during construction.

One question with the phase settings you suggested, when we show the demolition plan, the room names should be existing rooms rather than proposed rooms,, that's obvious. But that is not possible in REVIT when Demolition plan is set to 'New Construction, Previous + Demo' Phase/Phase filters. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,

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@rosskirby wrote:

You don't need a separate demolition phase.  Demolition is an action that occurs during new construction.  Create 2 views, one for your demolition plan and one for your new construction plan.  For the demo plan, set the phase to New Construction and the phase filter to "Show previous + demo".  For the new construction plan, set the phase to New Construction and the phase filter to "Show previous + new."

If you want to mass-demo multiple objects, just drag a crossing window around them and change their "Phase Demolished" property to "New Construction".

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[IAN~JAMES]

Hi,

While I understand that this does work, I find it makes it a lot clearer for novice teams to have a distinct Demolition Phase, it just provides a slightly less abstract view of the timeline...

While it may not be the purest approach, is there a downside to this approach do you think...?

We've got a project at the moment with a number of partial demolition and temporary enabling works to maintain operation and access to an adjoining building so the phases are quite complex and it is quite complex by anyone's standards, so I have created a clear demolition and temporary works construction for each stage, but even in the example above I would still probably go with Existing, Demo, New Construction... I just wondered if there is likely to be a problem down the line and what that might be...?

Thanks for any pointers.

[damo3]

My experience has been the opposite. Introducing the demo phase just adds more choices. Once explained, newbies have a 50/50 choice if they are unsure and it is pretty obvious you don't demolish at existing phase so it must be New construction. 

To answer your question though, the downsides are to graphic representation getting more complicated.

In the recommended Existing/New Construction phase setup: If you demolish a door in an existing wall, in your New construction view, you will see the wall infilled. 

If you were to add a door in the new construction view, then you would see in your existing/demo view, the wall being demolished. 

However, if you use Existing/Demolition/New Construction phase setup, this won't work as cleanly. Using the above example, you will no longer see correct graphic representation for the wall infilled and you will no longer see the wall being demolished. This is because there is a phase before/after it.

If you think of and explain demolition as an action not a phase, then I think this is much easier to learn and control. The Phase dialog box should be used for time line management. This will also help when you have a multi stage project. Imagine a 3 stage project, each with a exist, demo, temporary and new phase. Will get messy really fast in my opinion. 

This is also a good read from Paul Aubin: http://paulaubin.com/_downloads/2015_CAD_Midwest/Revit_Phasing_CADMW.pdf

[IAN~JAMES]

Thanks for the explanation... Yes the door example nails it... I hadn't considered that.

Thanks for the link to the Paul Aubin pdf also, That guy also knows his stuff... learnt a lot from his material

Thanks

[damo3]

no problem, glad it helped.

[ckilger12]

sorry to bring back an old thread, but I love in information provided. My company insists that we add the Demolition Phase to our template, and I keep trying to get them to drop it, I was having a hard time explaining the downsides with visibility but a the Door and Wall is a great example. 

They want to keep it for ease of new users seeing demolition, but it constantly causes other issues when working in a project. So thanks for the info

[RobDraw]

I hadn't seen this thread before and think this is one of the better ones on the topic, and I watch for this topic.

One of my first projects was a reno that had multiple phases. Before Revit, demo was a separate phase in my head.

Why would demo be a part of the new phase when it doesn't show on the new work drawings? Just didn't make sense to me.

I applied that thinking to this early project and even thought Revit "wanted" it that way, as it was listed separately in the graphics overrides. (Mistake on my part.) It actually worked but it wasn't easy being one of my first projects and all. I thought it was just a learning curve thing and have done it ever since. I'm gonna have to give into the masses and try a project without a demo phase and learn how to do it that way.

[chowellM8RJ3]

Did you (or anyone) ever find a solution to have the existing rooms and room tags show up on the demo plan? When the phase is changed to New Construction (where the demolition occurs), you lose all existing rooms. I found a solution where the need to have 2 overlapping views on a sheet with a rooms only view, but that is inelegant and cumbersome.
Thanks!

[RobDraw]

My existing rooms do not get lost in the new phase.

Your phase filter should be set to "Show Previous + New".

BTW, you should also start a new thread instead of high-jacking one. Especially one that has been marked as solved.

[chowellM8RJ3]

I found a more useful thread here.

If you are not having the issue, you are not using the same software as me or the many other people seeking a solution. Thanks anyway and sorry for not starting a new thread.

[RobDraw]

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@chowellM8RJ3 wrote:

If you are not having the issue, you are not using the same software as me or the many other people seeking a solution. Thanks anyway and sorry for not starting a new thread.

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If you aren't using Revit, you're in the wrong forum.

If you are using Revit, maybe you don't have the right settings as I suggested.

Good Luck!

[ToanDN]

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@chowellM8RJ3 wrote:

I found a more useful thread here.

If you are not having the issue, you are not using the same software as me or the many other people seeking a solution. Thanks anyway and sorry for not starting a new thread.

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That thread is entertaining yet far from helpful.  Maybe the first few posts are but the rest required popcorn to go through.

Back to your question, yes they should have allowed existing Rooms to show under Show Previous and Demolition phase filter as with any other model elements.  It is utterly nonsense to show New Rooms under such phase filter.  So far, using two views on sheet is still the most popular workaround.

Another workaround is having Demolition as a Phase between Existing and New and copy paste Rooms from Existing Phase to it.

My favorite is a very unconventional approach: demolish elements in Existing phase and make use of Temporary for presentation of Demolition.  That you can use a view set to Existing phase and Show New + temporary for the Demolition drawing.

[chowellM8RJ3]

You're right - there was a lot of bickering, but some knowledge to been gleaned all the same.

Thanks, that workaround is what I am going with. I was hoping there was a more elegant solution.