The Bottom Line - Mastering Autodesk Revit Architecture 2015 - page 876

Master It You're faced with creating some design studies of a large hospital complex.
How would you go about creating a Revit project that would allow you to create a mass-
ing study and schedule it against the design client's program?
Solution Massing studies allow you to create schedules of the surface, floor areas, and
volumes of a mass. This is incredibly helpful for resolving the design intent and client's
program before committing to walls, floors, and other building geometry.
Know when to use solid and surface masses. While solid masses and surface masses can
both be used to maintain relationships to host geometry like walls and roofs, surface masses
can't be volumetrically scheduled or contain floor area faces.
Master It You've been asked to create a complex canopy system for the entry to a hotel
project. The system will consist of a complex wave of triangular panels. What kind of
mass would you create?
Solution You're probably going to be better off not creating a solid mass because you
don't need a solid—you need only a surface. It's best to use solids when you have to
calculate the client's overall design program: floor areas, surface, and volume. For lim-
ited, surface-based relationships, just use surface massing. Surface masses will help you
resolve the overall design idea first. Then you can move on to patterns and eventually
component-level geometry.
Use mathematical formulas for massing. Not all massing is going to involve intuitive, in-
the-moment decision making. By discovering the underlying rules that express a form, it is
possible to create the formulas that can iterate and manipulate your massing study. So rather
than manually manipulating the mass, you manipulate the formulas related to your mass.
Master It What's the best way to discover and create these formulas?
Solution Never stop sketching! Staring at a blank spreadsheet is a one-way road to
frustration. Sketch the idea and try to discern the rules that make the form change and
morph into your design idea. Once you think you've discovered the rules that contain the
idea, start testing the rules. Once you find that the idea or principle is valid, it's simply a
matter of scale.
Chapter 9: Conceptual design and design Analysis
Embrace energy analysis concepts. Understanding the concepts behind sustainable design
is an important part of being able to perform analysis within the Revit model and a critical
factor in today's design environment.
Master It What are four key methods for a holistic sustainable design?
Solution Four key methods for a sustainable solution are (1) understanding a building's
climate, (2) reducing building loads, (3) using free energy when possible to power those
loads, and (4) using efficient systems.
Create a conceptual mass. Understand ways to generate building forms quickly and easily
to explore a variety of shapes and orientations.
Master It Describe how you can use families to quickly generate form.
Solution By using adaptive components and masses, you can quickly create geometry
that can be dynamically modified by pushing or pulling reference lines or by formulas.