Placeholder Coordination
Visualizing the invisible geometry
Placeholders are a helpful tool that can help to visualize design intent that isn’t always shown in design models but is part of the design intent. Whether its a height clearance for an area without a finished ceiling, a path of travel through a mechanical or electrical room, or primary framing at man doors this “invisible geometry is crucial to be aware of so that models can be modelled and coordinated successfully the first time eliminating the need for rework.
Vertical Height Clearance and Sloped Floor Placeholders
In building environments there are times when the design doesn’t required a finished ceiling but minimum height clearances need to be maintained. Some examples could be parkades, mechanical rooms, or corridors where services or devices need to maintain a minimum height clearance, but because there are no ceilings there is no available geometry to represent the minimum height. Placeholders to visualize specified height clearances shown in a 3D environment as a reference model to use while modelling, performing clash reviews, walkthroughs can be very helpful and reduce review time and or rework to make corrections that could be avoided in the first place.
Sometimes another missing level of detail in design models could be attributes like the sloped profiles of floors where there is area drainage as an example. This level of detail not being shown in your BIM models could be detrimental to accurate modelling and successful coordination of scopes where vertical space is already limited. Having the sloping profile of floors in conjunction with parkade clearance placeholders can help visualize the real space available to route services. Additionally these placeholders can help to make parkade clearances that match the floors sloping profiles for an even more accurate representation of coordinaiton space available.
Click below to contact Art of BIM for modelling of placeholders for your project.
I can have it modelled, but what’s the best way to do it?
Click on the button below to see a free tutorial on modelling floors with sloped areas and various thicknesses and creating a vertical clearance placeholder that follows the floors profile to represent realistic clearances in your 3D BIM environments
Tower Crane Placeholders
Temporary Construction equipment such as tower cranes can be a determining factor in many logistical decisions. Having these visualized beyond a 2D crane layout plans within your BIM model can help speed up, and increase the accuracy of decisions made when it comes to crane placement, equipment & materials riging, and seeing the exact pick radius throughout all floors in once scene.
Unique Stud Framing Details
It can be common to see steel stud framing scopes of work not fully captured in design models. Despite perhaps being captured in drawing details this not being captured in model can lead to confusion. Supplementing the coordination model with a placeholder for this missed geometry can help guide the the coordinaiton process more successfully.
Elevator Service Runs
Footing bearing zones
Footings being undermined is always a major consideration to make during underground services installations over the course of construction. Knowing which footings can be affected is sometimes time consuming and can be confusing if the elevation information for underground services infrastructure and footings is on two drawing sets. Having the angle of repose or commonly known as the footing bearing zone can help take out the calculation or geuss work to which footings may be affected and provide a clear visual indication of where interferences with these bearing zones may occur. Contact art of BIM to model
Equipment placeholders with multiple instances.
The equipment provided on projects can vary in purpose but the utility of having equipment represented by a place hold can be beneficial for planning logistics around deliver and installation. additionally defining space requirement’s can help to ensure adjacent systems or building components near the equipment can be vital to ensure unforseen conflicts do not occur. Placeholders for equipment can be as simple as a block to as complex as a highly detailed model of a piece of equipment to represent all the crucial components and exterior dimensions.
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