Show Doors or Windows if they're Outside a Wall

[TaniavH]

Changing the materiality along the length of a wall (e.g. color / cladding change) typically involves breaking the walls as needed. This frequently occurs in alignment with fenestration such as doors and windows. 

Unfortunately it is entirely dependent on 100% accuracy - if the wall is cut the tiniest fraction off, the door or window ends up outside the wall and becomes invisible in plan. Often teams then place said door or window again to get it to display - which effectively duplicates these instances, throwing out the quantity in schedules.

Having a feature such as "highlight doors and windows placed outside wall" would really help with cleaning these instances up!

[Barry Kelly]

I am not quite sure what you mean by "invisible in plan".

Do you mean it is covered by another wall?

A window can be moved so it is not in the wall at all and can still be seen in plan and 3D.

If you place a window in a wall and then spit the wall, the window will only belong to one of the walls.

Depending on how you do the split, the adjacent wall could cover the window.

But then it is just a display order issue to fix it.

Below I have moved the window outside of the wall to show that it is still there.

Placing an adjacent wall may cover the window.

 

Using the 'Split' command usually sets the split of wall that does not host the window automatically behind so display order should not be an issue.

Maybe you can show an example of what you are doing?

Barry.

[A21_Ma_Si]

It would be a nice feature if we could assing a window/door/skylight to multiple walls/roofs so the void would affect both elements (just like we can do with openings).

[TaniavH]

@Barry Kelly 
Stacking order only works like your screenshot if you have fills active on the windows - which we find unnecessary in general - if you don't, you see both the window as well as the adjacent wall...(You also have to consider less experienced AC users, who don't automatically consider display order, especially when working quickly.) It looks like if the window frame edge is exactly aligned with the endpoint of its associated wall but is outside the wall, AC sometimes forgets which wall it's actually in and you get the result like the screen shots below. Moving it away and then back again works like a graphic reset - but if it's being covered by the adjacent wall, people assume it's just gone and then place a second window on top.

Having a highlight check for this type of scenario will be useful for checking model accuracy - perhaps something similar to the highlight inverted elements feature...?

I do like @A21_Ma_Si 's suggestion! I can see how this would negate the need for additional openings on stacked walls. If a window or door could generate an opening the way some equipment objects can, but in multiple walls, that'd be huge!

 

 

 

 

[Barry Kelly]

If you are splitting a wall, the window will remain associated to only one wall, as you know.

When I split the wall within the window area, I get a second window, one in each wall - that does not seem to be what you are doing

When I split the wall exactly at the end of the window, or slightly outside, the window will remain entirely within one wall only.

I am unable to get the window to belong outside of the wall unless I drag it there myself.

So, I am unsure how you are breaking the wall and getting the window to be associated to the wall it is no longer within - i.e. outside of the wall entirely.

If you then move (drag) that window across between to co-planar walls, it will automatically associate with the wall that it is entirely within, as I think you know as well.

I am assuming when you break the wall that you are using the split tool?

In my testing, I am unable to split the wall and have the window associate outside of the wall.

I am not taking away from your wish, I just don't understand how it is happening for you.

Barry.