AAB Insulated Concrete Forms

[PatriciaLe_o]

Has anyone there worked with this construction system? I'm in a project that's built with it and I'm in doubt on HOW should I construct it... The system works like a Lego, where blocks are joined and then filled with concrete. (For those who want to know what I'm talking about see www.euromac2.com or http://oikos.com/esb/40/AAB-icf.html)
I don't know if I just should use composite walls or if there is another better way....

[Anonymous]

Hell is in the details.

You could make your work easier, by:

First, build all your main walls.
Only when you get to the cd stage will you go into 3d detailing.
The base of the walls I would do in a different story (not a different layer).
This way, they never show up in plan and always in section.
They would be simply copypasted walls from the main floor, and then automatically changed.
The c detailing I would do with the magic wand,maybe also in a different floor.
Depending on the complexity of the design and the number of floors, this could be a matter of minutes, because most of the work would be automated. The only manual stuff would be deleting the c bits on each door

My method will give you some bonuses, for instance, you can make a quantity takeoff from all the c pieces.

[PatriciaLe_o]

Krippahl wrote:
Only when you get to the cd stage will you go into 3d detailing.

I'm already in the detail stage! The projects are already defined...

Krippahl wrote:
The base of the walls I would do in a different story

So your idea is to have lots of stories? Even when they don't correspond to a story!? Sounds weird to me...

Krippahl wrote:
They would be simply copypasted walls from the main floor, and then automatically changed.

How come!? Those new walls, as I understood your first suggestion, should now have different thickness ('cause they'd be just the structural concrete to join the slabs to the walls, and would not have the insulations etc) and unless their reference line construction is in the middle, they'd have to be repositioned.

Am I misunderstanding everything!?
Well, thanks again for the effort on helping me...

[Anonymous]

PatriciaLeão wrote:

I'm already in the detail stage! The projects are already defined...

Lucky you. Then it will be much easier

PatriciaLeão wrote:

So your idea is to have lots of stories? Even when they don't correspond to a story!? Sounds weird to me...

It is weird. I do this a lot.
Stories are a convention.
I use extra stories for a lot of stuff: 2D external data - for instance, 2d topography; ceilings; wood trusses in a roof structure, 3d exterior extras - tress, cars, whatnot.
These are 'fake' stories, which allow me to manipulate all the information without resorting to layer management (I like to keep my layers simple and few).

PatriciaLeão wrote:
... they'd have to be repositioned.

Not really.
You can set you walls in a way they are designed a given value to the left or right.
On the Geometry and Position settings, you define a negative value to the Reference Line Offset, and voila.

PatriciaLeão wrote:
Am I misunderstanding everything!?

Probably. For two portuguese to communicate in english, there is bound to be misunderstanding

[PatriciaLe_o]

Krippahl wrote:
Stories are a convention. I use extra stories for a lot of stuff: 2D external data - for instance, 2d topography; ceilings; wood trusses in a roof structure, 3d exterior extras - tress, cars, whatnot.
These are 'fake' stories, which allow me to manipulate all the information without resorting to layer management (I like to keep my layers simple and few).

I'm still not convinced on this... Is this a common sense!?

Krippahl wrote:
For two portuguese to communicate in english, there is bound to be misunderstanding

hehehe I must have more funny misunderstanding situations communicating here in my brazilian portuguese, although you portuguese people understand me very well because of the soap operas.

[Anonymous]

PatriciaLeão wrote:
I'm still not convinced on this... Is this a common sense!?

Common sense? Good question, something I never associated with CAD, I guess.
Thing is, common sense in using such a complex software like ArchiCAD isn't really that important.
If it works for you, then it is ok.
There are many means to get to the same end, its all a matter of using what suits you the best.
Having stuff in 'fake' stories that I do not want to appear in plan is a quick way to manage the information. I do not have to turn layers on and off, because I know these things won't appear in plan view, but will be there in sections and 3D.
And all my walls are in the same layer, only in different stories., so I do not get a zillion layers to manage.
Floors can have 0 height, so I can compress a lot of floors in the same space.

PatriciaLeão wrote:
although you portuguese people understand me very well because of the soap operas.

Which is something I would not go around boasting about

[PatriciaLe_o]

Krippahl wrote:
Thing is, common sense in using such a complex software like ArchiCAD isn't really that important. If it works for you, then it is ok.

If it's ok like this for you, great. I always like to know how other people do things, even those that are solved for me. Maybe it's ok for me, but ir can be better, faster or easier...
And thank you again for sharing your experience!

[Anonymous]

De nada.
(wellcome, for those few non portuguese speaking guys out there)

[Anonymous]

Hi Krippahl,

Krippahl wrote:
I use extra stories for a lot of stuff: 2D external data - for instance, 2d topography; ceilings; wood trusses in a roof structure, 3d exterior extras - tress, cars, whatnot.

And when you have to print/plot all these stuff (Caldeirada ) ?... How can you assemble all this information in a single plan using the publisher?

[Anonymous]

Braza wrote:
... How can you assemble all this information in a single plan using the publisher?

Using the publisher

But the point is, I put in those stories mostly stuff I don´t want to see in plan, like suspended ceilings and soffits, but still have them in sections, without resorting to layer management.

Some information is just too much to handle in a single story. For instance, you may have a complex roof, with suspended ceiling, rafters, insulation and tiles, so it becomes easier to have them in separate storys.

I also put stuff I NEVER want to see.
A good example is the 2d data the surveyor gives me.
Imagine I have an existing building, with 3 or 4 stories.
I make fake storied for each storey, and put the 2d data there.
This way, i can build it 3D in the real storey resorting to the "ghost" gizmo, without having to work with layers.

This is very important when the 2D data comes in a lot of layers, and you don't want to flatten it all into one layer.

[PatriciaLe_o]

Krippahl wrote:
I put in those stories mostly stuff I don´t want to see in plan, like suspended ceilings and soffits, but still have them in sections, without resorting to layer management.

Maybe it could have been useful in AC9, but in AC10, with the new wall's "floor plan display" options... well, as you said before, if it's nice for you that way...