Project Setup - Small Industrial Park

[Anonymous]

Apologies if I haven't put this into the correct forum and for the Noob question.
I've only used Archicad for domestic work to date.
I've now got a small industrial park project and was wondering whats the best way to structure the project from the start.
I will have multiple buildings (some repeating some of different designs) on an overall site plan.
Do I setup one master file for the site plan with the different buildings hot-linked in?

Archicad 23 UAS

[Barry Kelly]

Conor wrote:
Do I setup one master file for the site plan with the different buildings hot-linked in?

That is the way I would do it.
One file for each building and then hotlink them into a master site plan.

Try to base all of the files on one template - set up as much in that template as you can before you start any of the projects.
That way all of the attributes and storeys will be set up so there will be no cross contamination as you hotlink the files.
If you need to add or change any of the attributes as you are working, then you can export them and import them into all the other files to keep them all the same.
Of course it is up to you if you want to do this or not - but it helps to keep all the files the same.

If you do not have multi-floor projects, then the storey levels are not so important.
If you do and the storeys are different in each project, you just need to be careful as you bring them into the master site plan.


Barry.

[Anonymous]

Thanks Barry.
The site is sloped and while most of the blocks will only have two floors they will all have different Datum Finished Floor Levels at ground level for setting out. (The floor to floor height will probably be the same for all blocks)
1 - Does this mean I should name the story levels different in each block file?
2 - Or do I create a site plan with story levels at the different datum levels of each floor for each block?

[Barry Kelly]

If all of the buildings have the same storey setup (but different datums), I would keep all storeys named the same.
Even if the storeys were different heights I would still name them in the same way.

The site plan is just an amalgamation of all of the buildings.
I guess it all depends on the datum height difference of all the buildings.
If you find you can not produce a decent plan, don't forget you can put together views (drawings) of different storeys of each building in the site layouts.
i.e. the layouts ca link to drawings in the building PLN files - and they will still update automatically.

To me a site plan is just a layout of work at ground level, so storey heights are irrelevant.
I just want to see the site with countour levels and the footprint of each building and other site works,
For example I would never do a 3rd floor site plan view of all the buildings.
But that may just be me (and I do not do a lot of multi-storey, multi-building developments).

Yes I would use the master site plan with all of the building modules to produce elevations or 3D views.
But the floor plans of each level I would get from the building PLN.

Barry.

[Erwin Edel]

If you intend is to have a 3D presentation of the whole site, I would recommend using the master file for just that, and getting the proper floor plans etc from separate project files for each building.

What we have done in the past with multi building projects with different story settings, is to set up a publisher set in each file for just the ground floor (story 0) and publish to multi story MOD file. Remember to include all your Solid Element Operators that might be hidden.

We then take these module files to a separate project that serves as an in between step. If our intend is to only show a 3D presentation, this project file only has one story. We bring the buildings one story hotlink at a time and adjust the height in 3D as needed, until the building looks good again. We then save modules from this assembly for each building by drawing a marquee around them and saving as module. These building modules only have one story and can be easily placed in our master site file and moved up and down as one building as needed. Since the modules are nested, we can publish from our separate building project files and everything will update automatically.

You rarely have to go back to your in between file. Only when one of the buildings has it's story setting changed.