feature focus
Cross-Discipline of the redundant work. One thing that is tricky is creating a demolition plan view showing the existing room tags. This is due to the fact that the only way demolished walls will show up is if the view's phase is set to New Construction and phase filter is set to Show Previous + Demo, which then turns off the existing Rooms and Room Tags. This can be overcome by creating a dummy view with the phase set to Existing and everything is turned off except Rooms and Room Tags categories. This dummy view can then be placed on top of the demolition plan on the sheet; that is, two views are doubled up on the sheet. TIP: When placing two views on top of each other, Revit will snap the two views into alignment in each direction. This is similar to how it also aligns with the view titles.
having Spaces in addition to Rooms is to separate architectural and engineering information and support a linked model workflow. A few things should be noted when the Electrical or Mechanical designer is setting up their model. The MEP model should Monitor or Copy/Monitor the levels (datum) from the architectural model. This will make sure the MEP levels and architectural levels stay in sync. If the bottom of the spaces do not align there are often problems with Spaces showing the architectural room name and numbers correctly (i.e. not showing or showing the wrong information). Once the architectural link is placed, it should be selected and its Type Properties modified; Room Bounding is selected to make it possible to place Spaces and Phase Mapping should be verified. If the architectural model and MEP models do not have the same phases many problems will pop up. Spaces are placed similarly to Rooms. However, Revit MEP has a very nice "bonus" tool: Place Spaces Automatically. This can only be accessed once the Space tool has been selected. This will add Spaces to every enclosed area (except plenums). Even areas the architects have not added a Room in. This is required when doing energy analysis but is not a problem because it is not required that all Spaces have a Space Tag. So they will not be visible in the construction documents. FYI: Energy modeling programs require all spaces within the building have a Space element. This allows the analysis engine to determine interior versus exterior walls and roofs versus ceilings. It is tricky to place Spaces in plenums, above ceilings. Especially true when the ceiling heights vary, which they usually do. See Revit MEP help for detailed steps on how to do this.
Figure 7 – Room separation lines create boundary conditions where no built geometry exists
Rooms can be further controlled by sketching Room Separation Lines. This special 2D line allows alcoves, waiting areas, open office areas, etc. to be carved out of a larger area within the building as in the image below. However, they must be on the same level (datum) as the bottom of the Room element. If a project has grouped unit plans, it is possible to have Rooms within the Group. Each instance of the Group can have a unique room name and number. If phasing is involved, each phase needs its own Room element within the Group. FYI: Use Room Separation Lines within the Group so the exterior and demising walls do not have to be duplicated within the Group.
MEP Spaces work very similar to Rooms; pretty much everything covered previously on Rooms applies to Spaces. The main reason for 16
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All bounding elements in the link are honored, including Room Separation Lines. It is not possible to ignore them (unless the levels do not align vertically). The default Space Tag reports the Space's name and number. However, it is possible to create a custom Space Tag that reports the linked Room's name and number from the architectural model. One thing the MEP designer has to watch is for changing rooms from the linked model. The name and number will update automatically, but if a waiting room and an exam room are swapped this may require the HVAC CFM load parameters to change (or some other room specific parameter value). This type of change is not automatic and no notification is provided. TIP: Turn off "press and Drag" on the Status Bar to make window selections easier. This will prevent Revit from selecting a Space and dragging it rather than starting to select a window. It is possible to use Design Options to develop and maintain bid alternates through construction documents. One option might spring_2010