Identical Building at multiple site locations with different grades - Opinion / Discussion

[EATREVITPOOPCAD]

I am curious what some of the OGs here think is the best way of going about this or if you have done this in the past.

I basically have a building that will be plopped at 3 different site locations, different addresses, project names and etc... Also, the grade will be different. End results: 3 separate construction document sets.

We could just make one Revit file and at the end duplicated 3 times and modify it as required for other sets. I am thinking though, would be cool to make a custom template for this type of job. 

This building is very simple too...

My idea: 

• Make all default Project information parameters empty placeholders.
• Create custom parameters with project info but with prefix Building#_ such as Building1_ProjectName, Building1_ProjectAdress and so on...
• As far as the grade, I am not sure exactly what to do... Maybe have the Level 0 (ground level) change by changing origin points? Not sure how to have origin points go to a parameter... Worst case I could do it manually before plotting the sets, which isn't ideal but better than working on 3 separate models when revisions are required...

Any thoughts?

[elfaouri1999 · Accepted solution]

You can make one Revit file for the building that you want to duplicate, and three different Revit files for the three sites, then you can insert the building's file into each file as Revit link, after that you can modify the grades and levels as needed then you can append the Revit link and edit whatever you want.

[ToanDN · Accepted solution]

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@EATREVITPOOPCAD wrote:

I am curious what some of the OGs here think is the best way of going about this or if you have done this in the past.

I basically have a building that will be plopped at 3 different site locations, different addresses, project names and etc... Also, the grade will be different. End results: 3 separate construction document sets.

We could just make one Revit file and at the end duplicated 3 times and modify it as required for other sets. I am thinking though, would be cool to make a custom template for this type of job. 

This building is very simple too...

My idea: 

• Make all default Project information parameters empty placeholders.
• Create custom parameters with project info but with prefix Building#_ such as Building1_ProjectName, Building1_ProjectAdress and so on...
• As far as the grade, I am not sure exactly what to do... Maybe have the Level 0 (ground level) change by changing origin points? Not sure how to have origin points go to a parameter... Worst case I could do it manually before plotting the sets, which isn't ideal but better than working on 3 separate models when revisions are required...

Any thoughts?

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- One building model

- Three site models, each with its own Project Info

- Link each Site model in Building model, acquired shared coordinates: Building model shall have three different shared coordinates systems

- Place each Site model in a workset

- Create document in Building model

- When time to print documents from Building model, transfer project standard from the active Site model (ONLY project info) 

[Corsten.Au · Accepted solution]

If you are using worksets.. create one for internal layouts.

Use links for the Internal layout ( which remains exact same for all the buildings )

but create different files for different blocks, and Core and Shell may change as per topography..

example number of steps for stairs , level to level.. Façade etc.

Its good you are doing a research.. its mostly how comfortable you are modelling with

1. Links

2. Workset.

3. Groups

4. Assembly

5. Phases

6. Shared coordinate

7. Shared parameters

Just for an example. If you use multiple Revit file.. you have to manage a lot considering the graphics, line styles, Revit families etc. example if you change one door type size.. it won't update in all the Revit link.. so that's one disadvantage of various link. But if have model everything in one file using groups for various buildings, then its a big management of Sheets, views, cropping and scope box, levels etc.

Tip: in Revit, all the views, elements are connected to LEVELs.. so if you figure out how you are managing the levels ( within a Revit file, or links , workset etc.. ) then you have cracked the solution.

Cheers.

[barthbradley · Accepted solution]

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@EATREVITPOOPCAD wrote:

We could just make one Revit file and at the end duplicated 3 times and modify it as required for other sets. I am thinking though, would be cool to make a custom template for this type of job. 

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Yes. Three (3) separate submittals = three (3) separate Projects that are  born from one Project.   Template (RTE) wouldn't help if the source Project already exists.  Hope you aren't thinking that 3 submittals will be created/ managed in 1 Project.  That would be a nightmare.  

Regarding Grades, Origins, Ground Levels, etc.: how does that relate?  

[EATREVITPOOPCAD]

Thanks for everyone's input! Very interesting, I will have to play with linking different site models w/ project info into separate worksets into a single Revit file that contains the building & documentation. It sounds like the result I would desire, and I'm hoping it does when I try it on a more complex job.

I ended up doing here something much less proper... This is a job with a low budget: a storage building. The goal is to do it down and dirty (but with clean results :D) and the least amount of stuff to manage and/or set up. Also, I expect a few revisions down the line after CDs are issued, which would be applied to all of the buildings.
Here is what I did:

Created a Project Parameter called MS_ Site ID which can be set to 1, 2 or 3. this is a toggle for which address Revit project will use. Then I made project parameters MS_ Address 1, MS_ Address 2, and MS_ Address 3. These hold the address of each site. (I also made a project parameter for each Lot and Block, which is the only other information that varied across the jobs)

Then I made a Dynamo script, which can be executed via Dynamo player. It looks for MS_ Site ID value, and based of that sets the project's address. Simplified version is pasted at bottom of the post.

The grade level ended up not mattering as much as I thought. In our standards, the ground level is always set to 0'-0" and we have a note that tells you 0'-0" on Architecturals points you to x'-x" on Civil ...
This job is so simple, I am not modeling the topography, but I will still sketch a semi-accurate grade line on elevations using filled regions. The regions will have a pre-fix in the name which dynamo will read and show / hide based of that. And whatever will deviate at each address (there shouldnt be any deviations, I will just add use another prefix and have dynamo adjust visibility based off address)