Introduction to the Construction site

The project selected by me for the class project is an Education building under construction at the Sam Houston State University (SHSU) in the city of Huntsville, TX. This four storied building primarily comprise of two Auditoriums with occupancies of about 200 numbers each at the basement level, classrooms & computer labs on the first and second floor and offices for staff on the last two floors.

Description about the project

My aim behind working on this project is to learn how to link the database consisting of information related to LEED certification in the Building information model.


The architectural and structural drawings for this project are originally developed by WHR architects using Autodesk Revit software. The SpawGlass construction company is interested in achieving a LEED certification rating on this project. SpawGlass has recently started using BIM technology to resolve some of the issues in the construction process like understanding MEP design, managing the time conflict and providing their subcontractors, a clear idea about the specifications described in the design drawings.





My future research interest is to investigate weather a BIM model can be used by the designers to represent and explain their design to the LEED certification organization (USGBC) more effectively and minimize the time spent on the review process, which is currently performed using online documentation method.

Experience with Revit Architecture

According to my personal experience, Revit is far more sophisticated design tool compared to AutoCAD. It has the ability to show multiple”views” on a single screen, which I feel is very advantageous to the designers. Working on any one view reflects the change in the other views simultaneously. For example, if you have a section and elevation view open together, any object drawn on the section view appears in the elevation simultaneously. Looking at the 3D view of the model, one can easily identify errors in the design and can modify the design easily per required. This option of generating instantaneous 3D view is not available in AutoCAD. Working in a 3D view mode is very helpful for creating topography and site development. We can place trees in the 3D model directly by clicking at the desired point on the toposurface, without even referring to the sectional drawings. However, in such cases, if we decide to modify the topography, the position of trees remains as it is and they appear to be hanging in the air in the 3D view. To resolve this problem we need to delete and place the trees all over again. Revit also has a huge library of different building components that allows us to create the designs faster; whereas, in case of AutoCAD, we need to draw each and every object manually per the dimensions. Revit also has an ability to generate elevations, sections, schedule of quantities instantaneously, which is not possible using AutoCAD. The option of creating topography and placing other site components such as benches, pavement markings for parking, plantation etc. are very useful to understand how the project will exactly look like, after construction. We can also use actual photographs of building materials to produce renderings of perspective views.

Thus with my experience of using Revit, I believe Revit is capable and helpful in creating far more than just an ordinary CAD drawing. However, since it has a vast variety of functions, one may have to spend time on understanding the different functions so as to become proficient and find easy ways of designing in the shortest possible time.

Walkthrough of the building

This animation shows a brief walk through the project, starting from building's entrance gate, moving through the building's surrounding into the building's entrance lobby and ending at the reception area.

http://thelab.tamu.edu/classes/arch652600/web/patel/project1_movie1.avi

The Sun Solar study animation for ARCH-652 project

This animation shows the movement of the sun on September 23rd from sun rise to sun set at the exact location of this building in Huntsville.

http://thelab.tamu.edu/classes/arch652600/web/patel/project1_movie2.avi