Why should plumbing designers embrace Revit?

Revit functions differently from AutoCAD and has some unique benefits for plumbing engineers as a result.

By Juncheng (James) Yang, PE, CPD, LEED AP BD+C, GHT Limited, Arlington, Va. August 21, 2013

Some of the benefits Autodesk Revit offers include:

  • Creates an opportunity for the designer to better understand the design.
  • Delivers a single model with dynamic views you can customize to show specific components, such as a lighting plan, ceiling to slab view, large mechanical spaces, central plants, and ceiling plenums. Sections can be cut and displayed quickly for any area as a result of the comprehensive information available in the model.
  • Allows designers the ability to make a change in one place and have that change automatically and immediately replicated in every place it should occur throughout the model.
  • Offers the capability to pull data like fixture units and flow for sizing.
  • Provides the ability to set up typical design and document schedules that can rapidly increase documentation time.
  • Gives designers the functionality to create Groups of typical connections that can be designed and copied to other floors, as well as to reuse data-rich plumbing Families that can cut future Families development time.
  • Delivers a higher level of model detail when using manufacturer-specific fittings and accessories.
  • Offers systems data that provides in-depth detail of pipe length and fitting sizes for crucial mechanical equipment selections for hospitals and labs.
  • Supports working in a collaborative model that forces interdisciplinary coordination, which ultimately produces a better product for the owner.

Juncheng (James) Yang is a Senior Associate and Plumbing Section Head at GHT Limited. He has more than 15 years of experience delivering highly creative, technically exceptional plumbing designs for commercial, governmental, and institutional projects