City Required: Mirror Documentation Drawings Revit Model

[CES_MIKE]

Short version: Multifamily project (multiple buildings) all in for permit review. City now states they require separate drawing packages for all mirrored buildings. Keeping in mind that we are fully documented, what is the best method for creating these new drawings?

Long version:

Typically, we have simply used a Master permit process. Each building type, regardless of orientation, would use a single permit document package. Example: There are (6) Type A buildings in the development. Orientation is different for each. Two of the six are mirrored layouts. Historically,  we have only created ONE permit package for the Type A building. Get's reviewed/approved and we move forward with construction... This has been our typical scenario for decades.

We now have two separate developments, in two different States, that are requiring a separate permit package for the mirrored buildings. Perhaps the "stupi-fication" of government, but I digress...

At this point, we have complete documentation of the buildings. Complete permit packages. Probably 100+ pages of drawings. We now need to create a "mirrored" set of drawings for the City to review/approve. 

I've investigated a number of options:

Create a group of the building: then "link", thus creating a separate model file. - Annotation gets lost.

Mirroring Project - but that doesn't keep the original layout that we need to preserve.

Create a new empty Project file. ; Link original (Type A Building with all documentation(sheets) in tact(?)) ; THEN mirror Project within the new project file. --- I do NOT know if that preserves the documentation.

At this point, I need help. Any advice is welcome. Meanwhile... I'll keep throwing 'stuff' into the fan and see what/where is sticks.

I appreciate your insight.

[Yien_Chao]

short answer : don't mirror. just an example : doors, windows and caseworks are NOT symmetrical most of the time.

[CES_MIKE]

Are you suggesting to re-draw the same building over and over and over every time the exact same building is used within a development?? That's absurd. That is an enormous amount of time... and money.

[Yien_Chao]

I'm not saying that.. but if you have building code errors or item purchase orders errors, it will cost you even more.

if you want to mirror the project, know that there is a lot of risk. We have tried it here a few times, and even taht is said  a project is 100% mirror, in the end it never really is.

[CES_MIKE]

What do you do for repetitive (clone) buildings within a development? Yes, exact same buildings; not even grade elevation changes here.

Best way is to get the City back in-line with the Master permitting as we have done for decades. That way all Code issues are addressed/resolved within a single permit package. Fix it once approach. 

[ToanDN]

Save as a copy and use Manage > Position > Mirror Project tool.

Another way is Export sheets to DWGs.  Open in AutoCAD and use MIRROR command with MIRRTEXT var = 0.  

[CES_MIKE]

I'm seriously considering this....

[Yien_Chao]

I'm afraid there is no perfect solution. Even on Autocad, the mirror projects had to be readjusted afterwards (door schedule, some details, etc.)

we sometimes use the mirror function in a project, but sparingly.

make a complete mirror project and hope that each change and small modifications will be identical on the 2 projects? No.

[Yien_Chao]

of course it is doable. but at your own risk. I hope it will be easy for you.

[CES_MIKE]

The real question is for the next project: How do we set-up the next project to accommodate clone buildings with orientation (and mirrored) differences? 

If possible.... 

[ToanDN]

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@CES_MIKE wrote:

The real question is for the next project: How do we set-up the next project to accommodate clone buildings with orientation (and mirrored) differences? 

If possible.... 

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Link the original project in a new file and mirror the link.  You will have to create views/sheets and annotate them from scratch.

[mhiserZFHXS]

As has been said, "mirrored" buildings are not truly mirrored. Do your models include plumbing? Is the cold water on the right in half your buildings and on the left in the other half? I doubt it, because they're not actually mirrored. There's a reason jurisdictions are deciding not to allow this anymore.

[kjskoog]

Link the Revit model into a new project. Mirror the link. You’ll have to recreate you elevation and section views. I have created detail groups for all the annotation and bring that into the new mirrored project and yes, mirror the detail group. We have created our wall sections as detail as you cannot link in section views. You can insert detail views so that is why we created our wall sections as drafting views. For those projects we duplicate only. Hope this helps. 

Kory Skoog 

BIM Manager 

[RSomppi]

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@CES_MIKE wrote:

Best way is to get the City back in-line with the Master permitting as we have done for decades. 

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IF they ever used that process, they probably had problems with it. Just because you've always done it that way for decades doesn't mean that there weren't problems with it.

Have a discussion with the AHJ to find out if there is a middle ground. The answer is probably going to be no but you may get an explanation as to why they don't accept your old approach. They either never accepted them or had to change because of a problem.