topic Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site. in Modeling

Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

vm1992 — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 19:30:29 GMT

Hello everyone,

I am not a new Archicad user, yet not old and i wanted to make a question about the strategy i should use, in order to make the architectural plans (both 2d and 3d) of a multi building project in the same land. There will be 4 buildings in the same plot, each building will have its own ground floor level. For example Building A's Ground Floor will be at +43m height from sea, Building B will be at +44,3m height from sea, Building C will be again 43,5m from sea etc. What is the strategy i should use to build this project? In my opinion the possible ways i could work are the following

a) Create a separete pln file for every Building and one pln file for the plot and environment and then hotlink the Buldings into the plot's file.

b) Create everything in the same pln with different storys. For example: Unit A Basement, Unit A Ground Floor, Unit A Second Floor.. then Unit B Basement, Unit B Ground Floor etc.

My conserns with every option:

Option a) Every time i make a new pln from the previous files template, i will need to create in the new file possible new materials or components i will need to use in every file, and then i will need to go back in the other files to import them. This is not gonna happen in option b because in case i realise i need one more material or layer or whatever i will have it for all the buildings inside my pln. Another big disadvantage is that i will need to create the plot's land in every file and the manage to hide it through layers in the Main plot's file, in order to have the environment control in every Building..

Option b) I consern i will lose controll of the project will all these different stories, and some stories will be conflict with other probably.. ( Units B Ground Floor may-be very close or same absolute level as Units A Basement for example..)

Attached image of an example of what i need to do.

Thank you,

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

Mahmoud Qenawi — Sun, 20 Mar 2022 21:04:18 GMT

Hi @vm1992 , I never dealt with this issue but I see it’s better to build all in one file and adjust and rename stories’ levels as every story in every building so you can manage every story solely as it will be documented as a view and if you like to get unified floor plan for the whole project you can use Document Floor Plan Cut Plane to get the viewpoint you need, I hope it’s a right way.

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

Lingwisyer — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 02:01:10 GMT

I save out Modules when ever I have finished making changes to a building. I also have a separate Layer Combination for exporting the Modules which means you can exclude layers such as your common terrain.

Attribute management is always a pain... I included a whole lot of placeholder Surfaces in our template but our last project went way over the number of placeholders I had included...

The biggest issue I have found with projects with multiple ground levels is your Story Heights and their markers. Height wise I have tried to average them out in order to not end up splitting a modules stories between multiple host stories... Marker wise, in one project I used an External View which only contained the story levels which was placed over Internal Views of the relevant Sections and Elevations. This made updating the Views faster and centralised the 2D work but introduces more possible points of errors. In another project I used External Views of entire sections. Archicad needs to open the file containing said External Views each time you want to update them, so unless you already had them open, this process could take quite a while... The upside was that all changes to a building were contained within a single file.

Ling.

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

Lingwisyer — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 02:04:56 GMT

Will your buildings be connected or isolated? Are there repeats? How many buildings are there? If you do only have buildings A, B and C, and they are relatively close to each other, I would be tempted to do them all in a single file.

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

Karl Ottenstein — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 02:33:18 GMT

This is a tough one based on your attached image.

Normally I would recommend your option "a" if you need separate construction drawings for each building as well as a site plan / master plan. This is because your template will require very little modification per-building. There will be 4 (or whatever) elevations only, building sections, plans, etc all linked to your layout book for that building. Each building's file will be clean and produce its own documentation.

If you attempt to do all four buildings in one file, then you will be adding so many additional, width/height/depth-restricted elevations, sections, etc - to say nothing of the story structure - that the file would become unwieldy. Exporting just each building for a structural engineer would become a headache. (Even with bold marquee saved with a view.). Etc.

The reason I'm not sure if the simple "a" solution works in your case is the image you give shows concrete work connecting the buildings... which suggests, rather than a campus of distinct buildings, that the structure engineer needs to analyze the whole, and that most likely the same contractor will need to do it all (or a least do all of the concrete work).

One key thing to keep in mind if you did this with 5 PLN files is that you would need to keep all attributes in synch so that when you hotlink the buildings into the site plan, everything will appear in all views as desired. For example, if you need to add a new surface material in Building A's PLN - you must also add it to Buildings B, C and D as well as the site PLN - all manually (by using Attribute Manager to copy it to those other PLNs). All attributes "match" by the internal index number seen within Attribute Manager, NOT by the name. So, it is important to not add something to A, add something to B, add something to C and then hope you can resolve the attributes.

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

DGSketcher — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 09:48:17 GMT

@vm1992 Go to learn.graphisoft.com and download the Workflow Guide for Hotlink Management. Even if you don't use it, it will be a useful thing to know. You may also find some other guides there that will help you including site plan creation.

The last time I tried to do multiple buildings in separate files the problems with attributes put me off working with separate plans for life.

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

Mahmoud Qenawi — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 12:43:33 GMT

Here are the 2 guides as @DGSketcher recommends to use

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

Laszlo Nagy — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 12:56:48 GMT

Mahmoud,

The two mentioned Workflow Guides (Hotlink Management, Site Plan Creation) can be found on this page of the Graphisoft Learn Portal:

https://learn.graphisoft.com/class_catalog/

These are NOT free materials. Anyone who wishes to use them needs to pay their price, which is 19 euro in case of each of these two Guides.

Please do not again post such paid materials on the Community.

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

Mahmoud Qenawi — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 13:41:22 GMT

I apologize for the community admins I’m so sorry, sure i won’t.

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

Karl Ottenstein — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 15:07:36 GMT

@Laszlo Nagy wrote:

Mahmoud,

The two mentioned Workflow Guides (Hotlink Management, Site Plan Creation) can be found on this page of the Graphisoft Learn Portal:

https://hu.learn.graphisoft.com/class_catalog/category/8918

These are NOT free materials. Anyone who wishes to use them needs to pay their price, which is 19 euro in case of each of these two Guides.

Please do not again post such paid materials on the Community.

To clarify: these Workflow Guides are FREE to anyone whose license is under a SSA/ArchiPlus (software subscription) agreement. Add the indicated coupon code to your shopping cart during checkout and the price will be zero.

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

jl_lt — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 15:20:09 GMT

Hi, nice project you have here! The project seems to be quite integrated volumetrically speaking.

If the buildings were more detached or more clearly diferentiated i would defintely suggest going the hotlink way. But same as Karl, i not sure here.

Question: do you need to present each part of the complex as a separate building? i ask it because the floor level diferences you mention is actually not that much, and levels seems to align more or less well (but yeah, what would be the ground floor of the taller wing would actually 1st floor relative to the lower parts).

So, If you dont need to present diferent parts of the complex as diferent buildings, i would try doing it as a single file woking with some main levels (but not a floor level for each different slab). And maybe only the detached semi buried building as a hotlink.

And now we are at it, Graphisoft, please, let us, the people, manage attributes in a centralized way!

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

vm1992 — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 14:38:39 GMT

Thank you very much for the feedback,

the jpg image i uploaded at the main post was an example close to what i was thinking and not exactly what i am going to do (answering the connected buildings you mentioned, the buildings will not be connected). The solution will looks like the image i attach on this reply. So to clarify what i am thinking to do at the moment (which im not considering 100% as the best solution) is that: i'll start and finish one of the four buildings ( 1 of 4 ) with a well organized template. Then i am going to create a PLN with only the plot and its mesh, and some 2d information i need (building lines, points etc.) after that i am going to import the 1st building's pln into my main plots pln, then create a separate pln for every other building etc. My problem is that, i would like somehow to see the main plot in every building's separate pln (and not only the other way around) in order to adjust the building according to plot's heigh in every position. Is this possible or should i create the plot in every pln or even create a new module of the plot, import it in every building's pnl and after that manage to hide it in the MAIN Plot's pln fine, which will be my master plan? My main goal on this project is to create architectural plan's in every building separately and after that, to go in the main PLN and export a master plan and some general sections.

Re: Multi - Building plots. Create differenct building in the same site.

Barry Kelly — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 01:11:45 GMT

I am not a hotlink master, but my understanding is this.

Create your 4 buildings in separate PLN.

Create the site in another.

You hotlink the buildings into your site PLN.

You can also hotlink your site back to the 4 building files, but you have an option to ignore nested hotlinks.

That way you do not link the buildings back to each other - you are effectively just linking the site back.

I hope that is correct.

Barry.