The days before the dreaded "final review" are what makes and breaks an architecture student. Essentially, it consumes the entire semester and becomes the most important piece of school work to finish. We have all heard and told our sleepless, caffeine filled, and endless final review stories. Sadly, with Revit, those nights will be shorter but may not go away. On the positive side, you will most likely have time to at least sleep an hour or two before presenting.
Thankfully, because Revit forced your mind to think in many dimensions it has never thought in before your building will actually make sense. The rush to coordinate your CAD elevations and plans, while building a physical model between every few lines drawn in CAD, have been eliminated. Your elevations and plans will always match... because they are all created from the same model! I know, how great is that? This will give you tons of free time to build your physical models while rendering some photo-realistic scenes in Revit.
Here are some of my personal tips to efficiently and intelligently manage your time while using Revit in the classroom:
- Create a Schedule: This could easily apply to a student not using Revit, but I will apply it to one using Revit. I find it to be so very crucial to create a simple schedule the day you receive the program of a project. Set concrete dates as to when you plan to finish each step of the project. Following this schedule will not only help you finish your work on time but also prepare you for the real world (where everything depends on these stupid schedules). Also, don't forget to add a good week extra if you plan to render in Revit (Until Autodesk addresses rendering times the way they should be, be prepared to wait.)
- Socialize and Discuss: Due to the easy nature of making changes in Revit and it's ability yo easily "tell the story" of your building discussion is key. Throughout the entire design process discuss and show all of your ideas with your peers and professor. I have learned that something as simple as another student saying, "Um... why's that door over there?" will force you to think more about your building and why you designed what you did. It also gives you a chance to pick up on mistakes that could easily be breezed over until you pin that drawing to the wall.
- Print "Check-Sets": You are now using a program that will have you way ahead of schedule when creating sheets. Revit has the ability to pump out sheets like no other program. You pay a pricey tuition to be in that school... USE THEIR PAPER. Print everything you can as many times as you want. Far too many times I see fellow students waiting till last minute to print. The first set they print is what goes on the wall and guess what... they look like crap! Line weights are all wrong, viewports and cutting things off, and the titleblock isn't even centered. Take the time to print throughout the entire design process. Grab a red pen... pretend you are your boss and redline the crap out of it!
Now it's time to add the good old wow factor in our last step of the Revit Classroom Workflow... To be continued..
