Regarding attaching building to the correct level on a contour toposurface.

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

I have a doubt in Revit. Currently I am working on a contour site where there are about 50 buildings. These buildings are all obviously in different levels and I have placed them all on the required levels. The issue is that not all buildings appear on ground even thought the levels are right. This is because of the slope in the portion of the building footprint.

Is there a way to collectively select the walls of all my buildings and attach them to host (contour topo surface) like how we do for trees?? Is this possible or I have no there option than the cut and fill method after placing building pads for all the structures?

[bimscape]

Do you have a survey drawing / file with spot heights to work from?

You could add "points" to th toposurface, around the perimeter of your buildings- to "warp" the topo to the correct elevations.

[cbcarch]

The buildings should be Linked files that are linked into the site file. Use Shared Coordinates so you can position them all correctly according to site specific grade/elevations.

[ToanDN]

@Anonymous

Google search "convert topography to floor in revit", then you can attach the wall bases to the new topo floor.

But honesty, what is wrong with using pads?

[bimscape]

They way I read the OP, I think his buildings are sometimes partly floating above the surface of the topo- even though he's confident they are at the correct actual elevational height. I suspect his top just needs refining in places, around the perimeter. I could have misinterpreted it thought?

[Anonymous]

I do have digital elevation model (DEM) data and lidar data, I've created
the contour from this data with specific coordinates imported from Autocad
civil 3D.
Is it possible to attach a video/pictorial tutorial of some sort? How
exactly do I add the elevation points for the buildings to wrap them with
the toposurface if I have the data?

[Anonymous]

You are absolutely right about the building floating above, this is because
of the site's slope. And is it possible for you to guide or make me
understand how exactly I can refine the top? What tools/data do I use to
solve this issue?

[bimscape]

You just need to edit your toposurface in plan

Use the "Add Point" tool and type the actual Elevation height into the value box on the Options Bar. And then add points of that height, where there are actually that height on the surface. Do you have the CAD survey as an Imported / Linked DWG in the project so that you can refer to the spot heights?

[Sahay_R]

Two words. Building pads. Over and out.

[Anonymous]

I put in levels for each building and using pads.

Also...buildings are separate models linked into a site model...that way I can just move them to where I want them to be vs attaching walls to the ground.  Which isn't proper design anyway.

[ToanDN]

@Anonymous

Just to clarify, do you want to modify the topo surface to match the buildings or modify the buildings' wall bases to match the topo surface?

[barthbradley]

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@Anonymous wrote:

The issue is that not all buildings appear on ground even though the levels are right.

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What are the levels supposed to represent? Top of graded pad? In other words, the Levels' elevations are at the proposed elevation of the graded pad shown on the  Rough Grading Plans.  In that case, the Toposurface your working with may be out of date.  It's not unusual. If you are certain that the levels are at the correct elevation, and they aren't matching up with the pads' elevations -- then the toposurface needs to be corrected or "fudged" a bit, depending on the disparity.  

That's my take on it.  

[Anonymous]

That is a great suggestion. It will definitely work. Since I have thousands
of such points making up my contour, the model takes unreasonable amounts
of time to process the change in topography while I place one elevation
point. You can imagine my concern when I have to repeat this process
hundreds of times and wait 30 seconds after placing one point.

[Anonymous]

I remember using building pads and facing some sort of issue, will try it again nevertheless.

Thank you!