Multiple buildings, multiple storey requirements

[Anonymous]

Hi!

I'm working with a team of people on a large site plan(in ArchiCAD 10) with about 9 multi-storey buildings on, 7 of which are new. It is a steeply sloped site on the side of a mountain. We're having problems getting the 2D plan views to read accurately on each building.

I've tried changing the Floor cut plane levels, but as each building has different floor to floor dimensions, it solves the problem for one building but creates problems in another.

Hmmm... not sure that's clear. The problem we're having is that whilst one building elements may display correctly on each storey, the elements(walls, columns etc) of another building will be displayed on another storey.

The problem(s) originate from:
1. The slope of the site
2. The varying floor to floor heights of each of the buildings
3. The fact that there's 7 buildings all at different levels trying to share storeys in ArchiCAD that cannot (as far as I can see) accommodate them all.

A little history into the problem: The buildings were created independently in 7 different files which were then imported into the Site model. The buildings are fine in their independent files - i.e the 2D and 3D views are coherent.

still not sure that outlines the problem, but I'm hoping that someone will be able to help... or at least sympathise

THANKS!!
Mark RR

[Djordje]

Maybe you should go by the levels when documenting your project?

While for the individual buildings the stories are ground, first, etc floors, on the site, what is one building's ground floor can very well be other's second floor.

If I did a project like yours (and I have done a few on very steep sites in my life) I would document like this:

the whole complex: plans at level 1, 2, 3, etc, from the lowest to the highest. The visibility should be OK.

each separate building: plans as normal, taking care that the levels are correct, so that it can corelate.

IMHO this is more a question of organizing your project than an Archicad problem. Or, a combination, where organizing is more important than the softare's features - or limitations, as the case may be ...

[Anonymous]

Dear Mark!
It may sound a little corny, but I really sympathize with you.
So I would like to partly participate in your problems solution.
As you mentioned in your message: "The buildings are fine in their independent files - i.e the 2D and 3D views are coherent." I suppose, it is just that your problems emerged from! Are the dimension units, scale and proportions are the same for all projects or not? I am afraid that it is (partly!) the corollary of that.

Please, if you found the solution for your problem, advise me of that! I also would like to know what is the reason of this matter.

Kind regards,

CAD eager

[KenMcN]

We set up each building as a separate model (as you originally did), then set up publisher sets to save each floor as a module.

Each module is brought into the 'context' model, letting you decide which floor of each building is shown in relation to the other buildings. You can also set them at the appropriate levels to take care of different floor-to-floor heights.

The context model is used for the overall plans, context sections and renderings/flybys. The plans/sections etc for the individual buildings come from the individual building model files.

The use of a module (rather than linking directly to the pln) allows you to strip out data that is not needed in the context dwgs (furnishings etc) and also allows you to work on the buildings without unfinished work showing up in the context drawings (i.e. don't update the modules)

Hope this helps.
Kenny

[Anonymous]

Since the modules have to be added one story at a time the biggest problem (after having to add them one story at a time ) is when the floor to floor heights are different. This is fairly easily handled by just dragging the modules up and down to fit in the 3D window.

I usually use the publishing method as Ken does (in fact Ignacio and I won t-shirts for posting the idea about a year ago - thanks again to Ignacio for the credit). This gives much finer control of what is included in the module.

[Anonymous]

Great solution Matthew
Congratulations for the t-shirt hehee
An old post helping me a lot with great new ideas