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Modeling
About Archicad's design tools, element connections, modeling concepts, etc.

Different claddings, one wall

Jere
Expert
I apologise if this has been covered before, I've been searching for quite some time and haven't found the answer yet.

Basically, I have a wall that has brick or CMU for the first metre or so, topped with a sloped sill, and stucco on the upper half of the building. Without using an add-on or GDL, how can I properly model this wall? It doesn't need to be perfect as I can fix it up in a detail window, but it should be fairly accurate.

Here's what I was thinking of doing, let me know what you think:
Solution #1:
Step 1: Draw full height wall with drywall, studs, sheathing, stucco.
Step 2: Draw another "dummy" wall to the height of the top of the sill and by using SEO, subtract the the stucco from the full height wall.
Step 3: Draw another wall representing the brick.
Step 4: Model the sill using slabs? roofs?

Question: if I do this, what do I do about doors/windows that are located in both parts. Just put the doors/windows in the main wall and add empty openings in the brick wall?

Solution #2:
Step 1: Draw two stacked composite; one with stucco, one with masonry.
Step 2: Model sill same as above.

Again, what would I do with doors windows in this case? Should the stacked composites be on different stories?

Thanks for your help.
Jere
ArchiCAD 26-5002; Windows 11; Intel i7-10700KF; 16GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1660
20 REPLIES 20
TomWaltz
Participant
I just answered this in another post of yours I think, but in Archicad 10 the ability to make complex walls like you describe is one of the major new features.
Tom Waltz
Jere
Expert
Thank you for responding Tom. But without using AC10, how would you approach this?
ArchiCAD 26-5002; Windows 11; Intel i7-10700KF; 16GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1660
TomWaltz
Participant
Until now, I always split the veneers from the main wall, so that brick wall would be a separate short wall in front of the taller stud wall. The sills were meshes (so you could slope the top and not the bottom if you wanted)

I think your idea would work. You could probably use your sill to subtract the stucco, no need for an extra dummy wall for that purpose.
Tom Waltz
For different wall finishes I use RevealMaker, which is a window object that cuts grooves into the wall and allows you to define the height, depth, material for each --so that you can have a 3 ft high 1/4" deep horizontal 'groove' with brick material, a deeper 6 ft high one with a stucco material, etc. It looks great in perspectives and elevations, doesn't mess up the windows, you drag the wall and the window object moves along with it, you stretch the wall and the grooves stretch.

If I didn't have RevealMaker I would first try to get the thing done with a really long shallow 'wall niche' window object (in 04 Masonry in the US library) and do pretty much the same thing.

There are add-ons that do this beautifully and give you a lot of control, but you have to pay for them, update them, and everybody who opens the project needs to have them.
Brad Elliott
Booster
Here's how I do it.
1. Make a full height stucco wall. Use wall accessories battered wall to create the brick. The benefit is that it automatically updates door and window openings.
2. Set it to the proper thickness from stud and clean up stucco behind in 2d wall sections.
3. Draw a thin wall at proper height for sill and add empty door openings.
4. Mutter under your breath. It's a hassle but in reality probably still faster than just 2d drawing and really does approximate correct in all other views.
5. Hope that 10 really does make this easier.
Mac OS12.6 AC26 USA Silicon
M1 Macbook Pro
Anonymous
Not applicable
Tom, can you post a link to the post where you discuss this matter in terms of Archicad 10? The one you mentioned in your 1st post.
Jere
Expert
thanks everyone. I looked at revealMaker. For $100US i think i'll pass.

Tom, i've been trying your method, with a full height stucco wall, mesh for sill with downward subtraction, and separate wall for brick/block veneer. Everything works well, except for some reason the block veneer wall shows up through the sill mesh. I can not figure out how to get it to not show. I've played with the Display Order and that hasn't really worked. Am I doing something wrong?

edit: further, my floor slab also shows through the sills.
ArchiCAD 26-5002; Windows 11; Intel i7-10700KF; 16GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1660
Jere
Expert
image attached:
ArchiCAD 26-5002; Windows 11; Intel i7-10700KF; 16GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1660
TomWaltz
Participant
Jere wrote:
thanks everyone. I looked at revealMaker. For $100US i think i'll pass.

Tom, i've been trying your method, with a full height stucco wall, mesh for sill with downward subtraction, and separate wall for brick/block veneer. Everything works well, except for some reason the block veneer wall shows up through the sill mesh. I can not figure out how to get it to not show. I've played with the Display Order and that hasn't really worked. Am I doing something wrong?

edit: further, my floor slab also shows through the sills.
Do you mean that they show through in plan? If so, turn on the cover fill of your sill and make sure the backgrounds are set to a solid color (usually 91)
Tom Waltz
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