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Structural Lintels!!

Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi all. I have been using ArchiCAD for a few versions now and still cannot believe that there are not options for structural lintels within settings for windows and doors. There seems to be settings for all sorts of other less important features such as shutters, boards and masonry arched but the structural lintel is surely the most vital part of an opening!??

I know this probably isn't an easy fix due to the amount of openings within the library but we currently have to model our lintels manually form a custom profile (or worse still a 2d line on section), and associate this to the opening, as they are of course inextricably linked. Lintels are also one of the few components which we schedule on a regular basis both seperately and as a part of window and door schedules.

Please please please address this massive oversight. I would be interested to hear any suggestions from members about current workarounds? The sort of thing I would be looking for is shown below:-
7 REPLIES 7
Laszlo Nagy
Community Admin
Community Admin
I agree with you, I many times wondered myself why this is not included.
At least the most common ones, like reinforced concrete, precast concrete, steel etc. could be included.
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Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
+1
stsmith190582 wrote:
I know this probably isn't an easy fix due to the amount of openings within the library ...
Actually, I think it is a not that major of an effort... since AFAIK all windows and doors call a common set of macros to handle the generation of their frames, etc... so generating parametric lintels/headers would seem to be somewhat straightforward...modifying the common macros and UI elements once shoulld have things show up for all windows and doors that use those macros/UI.
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Barry Kelly
Moderator
Certainly not impossible to do - in fact for standard situations it would be quite simple with a macro as Karl suggested.
But you would need manual control (over-ride) for the end bearing lengths for when widows are adjacent to other windows or corners.
Sometimes you may want to reduce the bearing length and other times you may want to run one continuous lintel above all adjacent openings rather than separate lintels over each.
Barry..
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Anonymous
Not applicable
Thanks for the response - at least i now know i'm not alone with this one! At the moment we use custom profile beams to generate lintels on section but obviously there is a major piece of automation missing between the opening and this profile. We just have to try to remember to alter the beams if the opening changes!
Anonymous
Not applicable
I think Any architect who´s been trying to take bim to its best - working drawings, quantities and so on - knows what a pain it can be to adjust every reinforcement element of a window/door - besides considering the layers intersections vs plan and section view cleanliness. Lets not limit to the lintel element, what about the trimmer studs, sills and so on... maybe the model view options could help hiding and showing these elements - and their respective labels - when needed.
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Csaba Kezer
Graphisoft
Graphisoft
Hey All,

Thanks for voting!

Structural lintels do exist in GER, AUT and CHE ArchiCAD libraries. Unfortunately we have some negative experiences with these:
- it is hard to fit them properly into their position (we need to fit them to many other structures such as walls, reveals, shutters, casings etc.)
- it has lots of different types that we can't implement all
- the size of the lintel manipulates the nominal size of the opening

To create this option for all openings that would be a horrendous amount of work and to create one element that knows all the options would be just way too complicated. So this isn't very easy after all.

Nevertheless we have added this request to our wishlist so that we can consider developing it in the future.

Cheers,
Csaba
Csaba Kézér
Director, Global Customer Support
Graphisoft
Anonymous
Not applicable
I can see the challenges that you mention lying in making lintels fit composite walls. I wouldn't expect to see every single different type of lintel, but just a representation to show that there is one present, and whether this was steel, concrete or timber would be a great improvement, as well as the ability to schedule this or add as a schedulable parameter to openings.

Thank you for adding this to 'the list' - I can imagine this is a pretty big list so I will try to be patient!!