Hotel Floor Plan Approach

[Anonymous]

I am a new user to Revit and want to know what the best approach would be to draw a 4- or 5-story hotel building. Typically there is a ground floor plan and the upper floors (collectively the "tower") that are often the same are far as the placement of demising, corridor walls, stair & elevator cores. 

Is it better to create the tower portion of the hotel using a stack of rooms for each story (that is, platform frame the walls and floors in my model like stacking ice cube treys), or is it better to balloon frame the model using walls on the 2nd floor that would stretch up to under the roof deck? 

If I use the platform method, should I create a group of the basic shell walls and floors and copy that to each level, or just turn on the floors immediately below or above and make sure everything is aligned?

Thank you in advance,

Blake

[Tom_Kunsman · Accepted solution]

I think the walls should be modeled from where they start to where they stop. typically walls will start on your lowest level and continue up until they stop, hopefully at another level.

i am not sure i would worry about how the construction of the building would impact the model, at least what seems to be an early phase to your transition to revit.

don't over complicate the process

[barthbradley]

Balloon or Platform Frame a 5 story building? How can we answer this?  I'd be talking to a Structural Engineer and researching Building Codes.  

[Anonymous]

I think my post is being taken too literally. I'm simply asking is it better to model such that the walls go level-to-level, or all the way up to the roof deck. If level-to-level, should I make a group of the walls before I copy them?

[barthbradley]

Wood or Steel?  

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@Anonymous wrote:
I think my post is being taken too literally. I'm simply asking is it better to model such that the walls go level-to-level, or all the way up to the roof deck. If level-to-level, should I make a group of the walls before I copy them?

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FYI...there is a huge difference in construction -- and modeling -- between Platform and Balloon Framed Structures.  It's not an insignificant thing.     

[Anonymous]

Let's say it's generic, before the owner has decided on a structural system.

Again I'm not talking about the building's structural system, only best practices of drawings walls in a multi-story building.

[barthbradley]

You are the one who mentioned "Balloon" and "Platform".  Furthermore, it's  not up to the owner to decide, and that kind of thing is generally known up front.  But to answer your specific question -- both ways work.  

...or Concrete?  

...Just make the 5 story shell continuous (e.g. Balloon Frame).