A SCREEN FOR ALL SEASONS

Musharabiya screens are popular design elements in the Gulf Region.  Everyone loves them.  They look good, they come in all shapes & sizes, they are functionally justified and environmentally friendly.  But how best to make them in Revit ?

Its easy enough to make a fixed size screen or to take a fixed module and use it in a parametric array.  But in practice the sizes you need are probably not so well behaved.  Currently we have a project in Oman that uses screens with sizes like 2930x1150 and 3120x1230.  I need to make these using a regular pattern module of say 600x600.

Early attempts used extrusions for the panels and voids to trim the edges down to size, but they were never flexible enough to cover all sizes & the panels tended to distort at the edges.  So last weekend I tried again with much better results.

The key ideas were:

1.  use sweeps for the panels
2.  define the patterns with loaded profiles
3.  control the void using reference lines, not planes

Advantages include:

1.  sweeps don't distort
2.  it's easy to load a new profile with a different pattern
3.  reference planes tend to push the panels around when flexed, reference lines don't.

Screenshots & notes below describe how the family works.

3 versions of the family using different profiles (patterns) Workplane based can be horizontal or vertical. Size variable up to 1800x4800. Material by subcategory and/or parameter.  Rectangular frame with width & depth parameters.

 

24 panels controled by the same profile family in 8 rows of 3 define the maximum size. Smaller sizes are created by a void extrusion. Reference lines control the void cut and host the path for the sweep that forms the frame.
  
2 of the profile families

  

One final trick. By duplicating one of the elevation views I create a place to display text notes to guide future users of the family.  For those at GAJ, I will put the family on the server.

POST NO 1

So here it is.  A public space for the Revit team at Godwin Austen Johnson.  A place where I can share my thoughts with co-workers and anyone else who takes an interest.

I'll keep this one very simple.

Most of us are now using the ribbon interface (Revit 2011).  Various customisations are possible, but let's try to set an office standard.  I recommend docking the properties dialogue on the right and leaving the browser docked on the left.

You can also right-click on any command to add it to the quick access toolbar at the top of the screen.

 My quick access toolbar now looks like this:

That's all for post no 1