Most Revit content ignores landscape architects entirely. Episode 135 fixes that. Martin Powell, a landscape architect with roots in New Zealand and now based in Dublin, joins to share what's actually working in Revit for site design, and what still isn't.
What We Covered
The big shift in this conversation is the move from floors to topo solids. Martin explains how the old floor-based approach forced landscape architects into awkward workarounds, flat floors for texture and shaped floors for grading, and how topo solids have mostly eliminated that. He now builds residential site models almost entirely in topo solids, using subdivisions to define finished surface materials on top of a generic graded body underneath.
On the subdivision question, when to use them versus separate topo solids, Martin's rule of thumb is practical: simple, single-slope rear gardens stay as independent topo solids because you can't subdivide them once a slope is applied. More complex surfaces with multiple materials get the subdivision treatment. It's not a perfect system yet, but it's workable.
One of the more useful segments covers linked Civil 3D surfaces. Revit 2026 finally restored the break-line accuracy that existed before topo solids were introduced, though the 50,000-point limit still creates real constraints on larger road designs. Martin's workaround: work directly with your civil engineer to reduce corridor section frequency so you stay under the cap.
The cross-discipline coordination section is worth your time even if you're not a landscape architect. Martin makes the case that landscape architects should own the site model, not the architect. On large projects, a flattened DWG export from the architectural model is often more practical than a live Revit link. The practical advice: ask architects early to keep their site context elements on a dedicated workset so you can filter it out.
The session closes with a look at reality capture, drone-sourced point clouds processed in ReCap Pro and brought into Revit as meshes, to understand existing tree canopy and site conditions. Useful for projects where what's on the ground doesn't match the drawings.
