Cross-Discipline

Rooms and Spaces; Revit's Un-built

Elements

Most advanced computer applications have features which can be used in a basic way with few
user settings and then also in a more sophisticated
manner, requiring the user to have an intermediate
level of knowledge. This is true with Revit's Rooms
and Spaces. This article will provide the reader
with a well rounded overview of this feature set in Revit. First
you will be presented with a general introduction in case you are
new to Revit and then a more detailed look at how these features
are, or should be, used within the context of each discipline; Architecture, MEP, Interior Design and Structure.

Overview
Room and Space elements are one of the few things modeled in
Revit that a person cannot put their hands on when the project is
built. They are used to provide and store information about the
various spaces within a building, such as area, volume, finishes,
room name and number, etc. User created parameters, information placeholders, can be created to keep track of project specific
requirements such as "Government force protection required",
"LEED daylighting required", "Medicare space tracking code",
etc. Each parameter can be a simple check box, a drop down list
or a text box.
Revit Architecture uses Rooms and Revit MEP mainly uses Spaces
but can also place Rooms. The two elements are identical in almost every way except that a Space can read values from a Room if

feature focus

by: Daniel Stine

they occupy the same area, even if the Room is in a linked model.
When a Room or Space is placed, its bottom sticks to the level
(datum) it was placed on and its sides search out for an enclosed
perimeter. The top position can vary, this will be discussed more
later on. The image below illistrates this concept. Note the Room
element has been graphically displaced from the actual room to
clarify this concept.
There are a number of practical concepts which need to be considered when using Rooms and Spaces on a project. When not
used properly several problems can arise. Problems with phasing,
schedules, room name and number tagging and cross-discipline
corrdination can impact the succecss of a project.
The remainer of this article will look at discipline specific concepts and issues related to Rooms and Spaces. It is important to
understand all of these concepts, even if you only specilize in one
discipline becasue your model will impact the other discipline's
model.

Architecture
The Architectural model utilizes Rooms to manage room names
and numbers, as well as areas and finishes. The Revit model
should only have one Room element per room, per phase. Room
Tags are view specific, so they need to be added to each view in
which they are needed. Just be careful not to place another Room
when you really only want a Room Tag. This happens to a lot of

Figure 1 Room elements conform to room bounding elements

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new users because Room Tags are automatically added to the view
in which the Room element is created; so they think of the Room
tool as a Room Tag tool. The Tag All tool can be used to quickly
add a Room Tag to every Room in a view; Rooms already tagged
will not be tagged. However, it is possible to tag a room multiple
times. This is necessary when match lines, and dependent views,
are used to break up large plans.
Not everything in Revit is a Room-Bounding Element. Additionally, the elements which are Room-Bounding can be set to not be.
For example, in a housing project the closet area might need to
be included in the bedroom area. In this case, the closet wall
common to the bedroom can be selected and set to be non-RoomBounding via the Properties Palette.
Room-Bounding Elements
Walls (curtain, standard, in-place, face-based)
Roofs (standard, in-place, face-based)
Floors (standard, in-place, face-based)
Ceilings (standard, in-place, face-based)
Columns (architectural, structural with material set to
concrete)
Curtain systems
Room separation lines
Building pads
When placing a Room, in the architectural model, it is important
to be on the correct Level and in the correct Phase. Once a Room
is placed the Level and Phase cannot be adjusted, unless you employ a workaround (such as cut and paste aligned). The current
view dictates the level and phase the Room element is placed on.
Therefore it is necessary to have a view for each phase (Existing,
Demo and New Construction). It is also required to have a view
for each level a person can walk on, even if the levels are only 6"
apart. The image below shows a common scenario for a new or
existing building. The Level 11971 view might be the only view
placed on a sheet, but a Level 11953 view is required to place
Walls, Doors, Rooms, etc. The floor plan view may look correct if
everything was modeled in the Level 11971 floor plan view but
various problems would arise. For example, interior elevations
and sections would not be accurate (especially if the walls and
doors were drawing at the higher level), Volumes would be off and
the MEP designers would run into problems placing Spaces (more
on this in the MEP section).
Looking at the image below again, another problem might be placing a Room at the lower level but all the walls have been modeled
at the upper level. Things look correct in plan, but Revit cannot
find a valid boundary at the lower level in which you are working.
Revit only searches for a valid boundary at the level you are working on. A quick section cut will reveal this problem.
Change is always occurring during the design process. Revit has
a few simple rules when it comes to model changes and Rooms.
First, the point you pick then placing a Room has some significance. Where you pick is where the center of the "X" is located.
The "X" does not show up by default, except when using the Room

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Figure 2 Room elements placed at wrong level

tool. Both the "X" and colored fill can be manually turned on in
a view's Visibility/Graphics Overrides; expand the Room category
and check each sub-category.
Once placed in the model, to select a Room you must move your
cursor around a room until the "X" is highlighted and then click.
When deleting a Room, it is not deleted from the project! This
is confusing to new users. The only way to delete them is from
a room schedulewhich may not exist depending on the template the project was started from. This functionality is meant to
maintain the information stored in a Room and help maintain the
programmed spaces. It is possible to place unplaced Rooms (see
previous AUGI article).
When a Room is made smaller by an intersecting wall, the Room
element will automatically get smaller. Which side of the new
wall does the Room favor? The side with the center of the "X". See
the image below. Also,
when using the Tag All
tool, the tag is placed at
the center of the "X".
So it would be wise then
to use some thought
when picking the point
within a space to place a
Room element.
Whenever the boundary for a Room is
broken, a Room "collapses" to a small
rectangle. As soon as
the boundary is healed
the Room automatically
floods the space. It is
with hesitation this is
mentioned, but if an
area of a floor plan was
only represented with a
2D AutoCAD link one
could place unbounded

Figure 3 Notice the Room reference

point determines the location when the
boundary conditions change

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Rooms and tag them. This would provide the needed tags and
schedule entries.
The height of the Room element has an impact on the overall
BIM project. By default Revit does not calculate volume and
Autodesk's Revit "Performance Guide" recommends not to do
this for performance reasons. However, this writer believes it is
required to make Spaces work properly in the MEP model and
avoid problems.
The image below shows how Rooms will extend to the level or
height specified no matter what it passes through; this happens

track of volumes), but will help keep Spaces working smoothly in

the MEP model.
In the partial dialogs shown above one can see the ability to
control how Room area is calculated. When the wall is set to centerline, this also includes the centerline of the exterior walls. It is
not possible to use the centerline of interior walls and the outside
face of exterior walls. See David Baldacchino's Do U Revit notes
on "Room Area and Curtain Walls" (do-u-revit.blogspot.com).

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Figure 4 Rooms extend through upper bounding elements when

not calculating volumes

when "calculate volumes" is turned off.

The next image shows how the Room's top stops when they hit a
room bounding element such as a ceiling or a floor. This is not
important in the architectural model (unless you need to keep

Figure 6 Rooms stop at upper bounding elements when

calculating volumes is turned on

The top of the Room conforms to soffits and sloped ceilings as

can be seen in the image below. Note that the bottom of walls (i.e.
the bulkhead) is not room bounding. This will throw the volume
calculations off a little.
It is also possible to add Room Tags in a section view. Understand
that Rooms are one of the handful of elements which cannot be
tagged through a link (tagging linked elements is new to Revit
2011).
Rooms can extend up past other levels in multi-story spaces, for
example atriums and stair shafts. This allows consistent tagging
and scheduling.

Figure 5 Rooms stop at upper bounding elements when

calculating volumes is turned on

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When working on existing buildings, Rooms must be placed at

least twice. Once in the existing phase and once in the new phase
(a room element is needed for each phase). If you place all the
existing Rooms you can Copy/Paste Aligned to quickly do most

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of the redundant work. One thing that is tricky is creating a demolition plan view showing the existing room tags. This is due to
the fact that the only way demolished walls will show up is if the
view's phase is set to New Construction and phase filter is set to
Show Previous + Demo, which then turns off the existing Rooms
and Room Tags. This can be overcome by creating a dummy view
with the phase set to Existing and everything is turned off except
Rooms and Room Tags categories. This dummy view can then be
placed on top of the demolition plan on the sheet; that is, two
views are doubled up on the sheet.
TIP: When placing two views on top of each other, Revit
will snap the two views into alignment in each direction.
This is similar to how it also aligns with the view titles.

Spaces work very similar to Rooms; pretty much everything covered previously on Rooms applies to Spaces. The main reason for
having Spaces in addition to Rooms is to separate architectural and
engineering information and support a linked model workflow.
A few things should be noted when the Electrical or Mechanical
designer is setting up their model. The MEP model should Monitor or Copy/Monitor the levels (datum) from the architectural
model. This will make sure the MEP levels and architectural levels stay in sync. If the bottom of the spaces do not align there are
often problems with Spaces showing the architectural room name
and numbers correctly (i.e. not showing or showing the wrong
information).
Once the architectural link is placed, it should be selected and its
Type Properties modified; Room Bounding is selected to make it
possible to place Spaces and Phase Mapping should be verified. If
the architectural model and MEP models do not have the same
phases many problems will pop up.
Spaces are placed similarly to Rooms. However, Revit MEP has
a very nice "bonus" tool: Place Spaces Automatically. This can
only be accessed once the Space tool has been selected. This will
add Spaces to every enclosed area (except plenums). Even areas the
architects have not added a Room in. This is required when doing
energy analysis but is not a problem because it is not required
that all Spaces have a Space Tag. So they will not be visible in the
construction documents.

Figure 7 Room separation lines create boundary conditions

where no built geometry exists

Rooms can be further controlled by sketching Room Separation

Lines. This special 2D line allows alcoves, waiting areas, open office areas, etc. to be carved out of a larger area within the building
as in the image below. However, they must be on the same level
(datum) as the bottom of the Room element.
If a project has grouped unit plans, it is possible to have Rooms
within the Group. Each instance of the Group can have a unique
room name and number. If phasing is involved, each phase needs
its own Room element within the Group.
FYI: Use Room Separation Lines within the Group so the
exterior and demising walls do not have to be duplicated
within the Group.

MEP

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FYI: Energy modeling programs require all spaces within

the building have a Space element. This allows the analysis engine to determine interior versus exterior walls
and roofs versus ceilings. It is tricky to place Spaces in
plenums, above ceilings. Especially true when the ceiling
heights vary, which they usually do. See Revit MEP help
for detailed steps on how to do this.
All bounding elements in the link are honored, including Room
Separation Lines. It is not possible to ignore them (unless the levels do not align vertically).
The default Space Tag reports the Space's name and number. However, it is possible to create a custom Space Tag that reports the
linked Room's name and number from the architectural model.
One thing the MEP designer has to watch is for changing rooms
from the linked model. The name and number will update automatically, but if a waiting room and an exam room are swapped
this may require the HVAC CFM load parameters to change (or
some other room specific parameter value). This type of change is
not automatic and no notification is provided.
TIP: Turn off "press and Drag" on the Status Bar to make
window selections easier. This will prevent Revit from
selecting a Space and dragging it rather than starting to
select a window.

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It is possible to use Design Options to develop and maintain bid

alternates through construction documents. One option might
be the base bid and another add alternate. This works well in the
architectural and structural models. It also works in the MEP
model with the exception that Spaces do not recognize elements
in Design Options. Therefore they cannot find a valid boundary.
In this case Space Separator Lines must be sketched around the
perimeter of each room. In these areas a special Room Tag is
needed which reports the Space name and number as the linked
information is not available. The Space name and number must be
manually edited to match the architectural model (or you can use
the Space Naming Utility available with subscription).
A Space is required when creating HVAC Zones. When doing
heating and cooling loads based on the Revit model, the Spaces
should all be assigned to Zones. The Zones element has several
instance parameters which contribute to the analysis.

Interior Design (ID)

All of the concepts in the Architectural section previously covered apply to the Interior Design (ID) discipline. Additionally,
on large ID projects where the ID model is separate from the architectural model, it is possible to use Revit MEP Spaces to setup
and manage Room Tags, which would actually be Space Tags. This
would allow the tags to be moved around in each room to avoid
overlap with furniture and notes. This would require a copy of
Revit MEP. All three flavors of Revit (architectural, structural
and MEP) can open and manipulate the same model. So the
Spaces could be setup with Revit MEP and the design work can
be done in Revit Architecture.
Unfortunately room finishes must be manually entered into the
Room via the Properties Palette. This information is what shows
up in a room finish schedule. It is not possible to have this information automatically mapped to the finishes selected for the
wall elements. This may be a good thing as it would significantly
increase the number of wall types required in a Revit project.
Once Rooms or Spaces are place it is possible to add color schemes
to a view. This allows the designer to color code a plan based on
a parameter in the Room or Space, such as department or room
name.

Structural
Because structural drawings rarely have enclosed boundaries the
Room and Space tools are not available. If the structural engineer
wants to have the room name and numbers show up temporarily
for a desk reference set or client meeting they can select a specific view from the architectural link to display. This will show all
notes, dimensions and tags from that specific view as well.
Dan Stine, CSI, CDT is a registered Architect
with nineteen years experience in the architectural field. He currently works at LHB, a 160
person multidiscipline firm, in Duluth Minnesota as the CAD Administrator, providing
training and support for two regional offices.
With rare exception, all building projects are
completed in Autodesk Revit (Architecture,
Structure and MEP) and AutoCAD Civil 3D. Autodesk has featured four of LHBs projects during the Revit Structure installation
process. Dan is a member of the Construction Specification Institute
(CSI), the Autodesk Developer Network (ADN) and also teaches
AutoCAD and Revit Architecture classes at Lake Superior College.
Additionally, he is a certified Construction Document Technician
(CDT) and certified Revit Architecture 2010 Professional.

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Mr. Stine has written the following textbooks (published by SDC

Publications; www.SDCpublications.com):
Design Integration using Revit 2011 (Architecture, Structure and
MEP) , available this Spring
Residential Design Using Revit Architecture 2011 , available May
10th
Commercial Design Using Revit Architecture 2011 , available this
Spring
Residential Design Using AutoCAD 2011 , available this Spring
Commercial Design Using AutoCAD 2011 , available this Spring
Chapters in Architectural Drawing (with co-author Steven H. McNeill, AIA, LEED AP)

TIP: the color scheme can be set to foreground or background via the View Properties on the Properties Palette.
However, when set to background you may get undesired
results if some content is set to display its 3D elements in
plan while others only show 2D line work. The 3D elements will hide the color and the 2D ones will not. So you
might have a desk hiding the color and the chairs do not.
It is also possible to create schedules that report the room name
and number each piece of furniture is located in. Search AUGI
for a few threads on creating signage schedules as well.

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