The discussion about column modelling is something I have been having some doubts about, mainly for cast in-situ reinforced concrete.
Although in practice we build each column in each level separately, if I have one column that starts in the foundation level and go all the way to the top, in my project it is called lets say C1, i.e. Column 1, regardless the level I am working on. So, if I have a plan view of the Level 1, the Column 1 will be indicated there as C1, and if I have a plan view of the Roof Level, the Column 1 will be still indicated as C1. Usually we do not split the elements in each level, calling them differently and therefore interpreting them as different objects.
My point is, regardless the view I am in the project, the column that is continuous through the height is considered as one single object, even if in each level it has different reinforcement or even different sections. I do not know if that holds true for precast concrete projects, as I never design one, but it is so for cast in-site reinforced concrete.
And for what I have seem in Revit Structure, I can have a model that has such behaviour. If I have a column that go all the way through the height of the building, and I want it to have different section/reinforcement along the height, I have to model separate instances to account for this changes. But doing so, the column that originally I considered a single object in my project, now it is considered as two or more separate objects. And I could not call it C1 all along my project, since it is not reasonable to have two or more objects with the same name (Mark in Revit).
I know you can workaround it, perhaps attributing one suffix for each level (C1-lvl1, C1-lvl2, etc.), but it is not as straightforward as we use to do in the traditional way. In my opinion, if it is possible to implement this functionality (having one single instance of a column varying reinforcement and section attributes in its different parts) to Revit, it would be a huge step to create a more workable environment for structural engineers. But, if not, perhaps it is clever to adapt our traditional representation to this new tool, in the same way we have been doing with a lot of other things.
Best regards