Hey both 🙂 @ToanDN @Anonymous
I have to disagree with you on this one @ToanDN stacked walls are awsome elements....I am not saying or better say the following opinion is not meant to say or imply that the whole building has to be modeled with stacked walls 🙂 it's more like a orchestra with a Chello, violins, base, counter base and all and the user is the Meistro or a Composer. A good Meistro/Composer makes good music and a bad One makes bad music. It's a coherent whole.
I definitely encourage people to use them whenever they could and wherever the should. However, one has to understand stacked wall first, not treat it as a element but more as a strategic alliance of elements and most important is understanding how they work which is the key to efficiently using them or any other element in Revit as a matter of fact. But as it is said "there are multiple ways to skin a cat" so there is no right or wrong whichever method or wall type one uses as long as one knows the pros and cons of each and all. Many situations I've been in, I have found that what some people thought was troublesome was the best solution for their project/case.
In my opinion one of a Stacked wall major benefits is that it allows us to "construct" walls in their vertical entirety and that is a very powerful option if and when used in the right designated locations on the project (namely building envelop) vs the limitation of (horizontal) buildups offered by a basic wall.
The are lots (like really lots) of benefits in stacked walls; for instance is the fact that a repeating pattern on the wall such as brick, or some other non "sand" pattern would all align perfectly together in a stacked wall while with 2 or 3 separate walls (manually stacked vertically by level or horizontally to patch a facade gap), pattern would not align properly unless you do it manually and/or unless join (joining elements is a very buggy if not the buggiest during design and development of changing structures).
As you have mentioned joining stacked wall not behaving properly, again one needs to keep in mind that a basic wall (multiple layers stacked horizontally) is a horizontal entity while a stacked wall (multiple basic walls stacked vertically) is a vertical entity. The only blend properly when the user understand how the function. It's more like saying "I crossed a Dackel with a Rottweiler but the puppies didn't turn out Schäferhund !"
If you also consider doors / windows cutting vertically through two different wall types, when you use 2 or 3 separate walls (manually stacked horizontally or vertically) you need to join them (which isn't always convenient during design) however with stacked walls the cut would go automatic through both walls and you wouldn't need to mess with any profile adjustments or join geometries to cut the second wall. You mentioned that one needs special Windows and doors; one doesn't! What one needs is to perceive/understand the vertical entirety of the wall (in the sense of whole facade) and not just look at it as a single Lego/Brick element. When we look at building envelop we treat it as an entity and not patch work.
Another advantage with inserts is if or when one needs to move windows or doors to different positions it wouldn't be a walk in the park when using multiple/different walls on different levels to build up a facade. In stacked wall one doesn't have that issue.
Of course their are cons, tagging, placement line etc... but that is the case applicable to any tools, system family or element in any platform and when one is still in the process of learning (I believe we all are) it is a must that one play around with stacked wall and really abuse them so that one learns how to properly use them.
sorry for the long post...
Cheers
