How to Teach Autodesk® Revit® Effectively: Reflections on Two Years of Teaching BIM at the University of Hong KongED4472

How to Teach Autodesk® Revit® Effectively: Reflections on Two Years of Teaching BIM at The University of Hong Kong

Marcin Klocek – University of Hong Kong,DOT Architects Ltd.

ED4472

In this class, Marcin Klocek will share his experiences from two years of teaching BIM technology, based on Autodesk® Revit®, to students of master program at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Hong Kong. We will emphasize the necessity of a non-standard and flexible approach to teaching Autodesk® Revit® at a university level. We will talk about how to combine technology instruction with real design tasks and challenges and how to connect students to professional community with industry-sponsored initiatives such as the student category of the Hong Kong BIM Award. We plan to have a significant level of interaction through discussions with the audience and sharing ideas with educators of different backgrounds and experiences.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this class, you will be able to:

  • Describe principles of a successful BIM/Autodesk® Revit® course
  • Create strategies, whichcombine teaching software with general architectural and design skills
  • Understand the differences in approach to teaching Autodesk® Revit® at basic and advanced levels
  • Prepare a sample plan of a Autodesk® Revit® course
  • Prepare a classhand-out for students

About the Speaker:

Having studied both architecture and computer programming, Marcin is a devoted BIM enthusiast since 1996 (long before the Autodesk® Revit® era). He now teaches BIM technology and Autodesk® Revit® at the Faculty of Architecture of the Hong Kong University. He is also a BIM consultant for Aedas Ltd. working on the company-wide Autodesk® Revit® standards. Having worked over recent years on some of the most complex and challenging projects in Hong Kong and Asia, he combines hands on architectural office practice, teaching, and academic research—a creative mixture which explodes from time to time with cool ideas.

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Introduction

Hong Kong has been a booming building and development market for decades and this situation seems unlikely to change despite various economic downturns that rock the world from time to time. With the recent rise of China as a global economic power (I know - it is a cliché…) and one of the largest building sites of the world, this trend is definitely going to strengthen. This economic background, openness and traditional desire for cutting edge technologies make Hong Kong a great place for wide adoption of BIM in design and construction industry. In recent years it became even more apparent as Hong Kong is gradually evolving into knowledge and technology oriented hub providing design services to other parts of the world, rather than importing them for its own use. Several prominent and far sighted institutions noticed this tendency and have been actively supporting and promoting BIM technology for several years. A notable example is Hong Kong Housing Authority – a HK Government statutory bodyin charge developing a public housing programme, which began implementing Autodesk® Revit® in 2005 and since then mastered the tool and created excellent and publicly available standards. Among thetertiary education institutions, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the University of Hong Kong – the oldest and most renowned of them, are in the forefront of adopting BIM into their teaching programsin architectural and construction faculties. In 2009 the University of Hong Kong (HKU), as the first in the territory, introduced an elective course inBIM technology andAutodesk® Revit® Architecture for full time March students, which I am pleased to run.

10 Tips for a successful Autodesk® Revit®course.

1.Show a big picture.
Present BIM in historical and technological context of the architectural profession and construction process so that your students know when and for what purpose it should be used. Discuss how the technology can help other members of the design and construction process and what the predictions for future are.

2.Try to be original.
Do not copy manuals or tutorials. They are often too technical and boring. Students can use them themselves if they want to. Make your course different and unique. While including all the necessary topics, structure them in your own, creative way to emphasize your points and include tips and tricks, which are hard to find elsewhere. Share your own practical experiences and use real life case studies, which you worked on, so that students know that they are dealing with an expert.

3.Design classes as a sequence of steps to achieve the final goal.
It can be building a complete model, creating a full project package or designing and presenting complex parametric forms, which will be shown during an exhibition at the end of the course. This approach gives students a sense of achievement, competition and makes the whole course a valuable and complete tool, which can be reused in academic or professional work.

4.Give detailed, step by step instructions.
There is nothing worse while learning a technology oriented subject than being lost in the process and unable to get back on track. Make sure that you communicate what you do very clearly and at the right pace so that the students are able follow you on their computers. Encourage asking question during classes and help individually those who get stuck.

5.Write it down.
For every class write a clear and concise hand-out (1-3 pages) outlining the contents of the class in bullet points and providing additional information. The hand-out should be a guide for you during the class and for your students during their individual work. It gives them properly structured and correct information and prevents from making frantic and chaotic notes.

6.Provoke thinking and encourage experimenting.
Learning the basics of the technology step by step during classes should only be a starting point for own, self-paced exploration of more specific areas by your students. The semester project or 2-3 smaller mile stone tasks should give them enough opportunity to start solving problems on their own and ask questions, which can then be answered during a Q&A session with the whole class.

7.Be critical and honest.
No software is perfect. Emphasize problems that you see within the program and point out areas or functions that should be improved. This will ensure your students that you are their honest guide to the technology and workflow rather than a product salesman.

8.Make learning Autodesk® Revit®fun.
Introducing elements of fun always improves communication with your students and makes them simply more eager to learn. Present Autodesk® Revit® as a cool toy that does cool things and is fun to explore and play with, even if it sometimes breaks down (hehehehe…).

9.Provide other sources of information.
Internet is an obvious choice, but finding information there isoften time consuming. So, for those who want to expand their knowledge, do provide links to most valuable internet resources with visual and written tutorials, discussion groups, family libraries etc. Official Autodesk help files, manuals and tutorials should also be made available as learning tools as well as Autodesk® Revit®handbooks by third party authors.

10.Make a coming out.
Connect your students to a wider professional community in your country or area by taking part in or organizing initiatives promoting BIM. This could be exhibitions or competitions including other universities with awards for best students’ work in the “Design through BIM” area. Such promotion will allow your students to make professional contacts outside school, be spotted by potential employers and will become an added value to your course showing how learning BIM can be a jump start to a professional career. The local office of Autodesk will be certainly eager to help like in Hong Kong, where the yearly event - Autodesk Hong Kong BIM Awards has recently been extended to a category of students.

Design a course framework.

Approach 1 – climb the mountain

  • Good for a modelling oriented course.
  • One sample model of relatively complex geometry is built by a teacher during the whole course.
  • A medium sized tower (30-40 floors) is a type of building good as a teaching example.
  • The sample project should becarefully selected to be manageablefor presentation purposes as its size and contents will be growing from class to class.
  • Every class covers a particular aspect of modelling in Autodesk® Revit® andis one step on the way tothe summit, which is building a complete conceptual model and presenting it in a basic way.
  • Some more important topics may extend to two classes like Massing Studies 1 and Massing Studies 2.
  • At least two classes are needed for non-modelling topics like general introduction to BIM technology and basic presentation techniques.
  • To pass the course every student needs to build and submit a model of a project selected by her or him and approved by the teacher at the beginning of the course.
  • A mid-term review of students’ works should be scheduled to make sure that all of them are properly advanced and will have the right content and quality when delivered at the end of the term. Projects should be presented in front of the class to encourage questions and discuss problems.
  • Mid-term review should be followed by a Q&A session, when thequestions and problems submitted by students are answered and solved by the teacher.
  • A final review should be also public and together with submitted Autodesk® Revit® files will serve as a basis for assessment.
  • Anexhibition of students’ works may be organized at the end of term to promote the course within the academic community.

Approach 2 – treasure box

  • Good for a project documentation oriented course.
  • A simple project is usedto illustrate various aspects of drawing, modelling and producing documentation in Autodesk® Revit®. In this course the main focus is not on sophisticated modelling techniques, but on achieving correct look of plans, sections, and elevations, annotating them and creating a complete project package.
  • Amedium sized detached house (200-300 m2)is a type of building good as a teaching example.
  • First class should be used for general introduction to BIM technology.
  • Second class should discuss general standards and conventions used in architectural and construction documentation.
  • With two hour classes – first hour should be used for demonstration by the teacher and second for individual workby students on their projects. Many projects of houses widely available in commercial catalogues can be used as training examples.
  • On every classstudents should produce and submit a drawingof different type or a different part of documentation like floor plan, section, schedule, sheets, etc. Their progress is therefore continuously monitored eliminating the need of a mid-term review.
  • To pass the course every student needs to prepare a detailed stage project package – a “treasure box”of the results of every class put together and properly organized in Autodesk® Revit®.
  • A final assessment should be composed of summed up assessments of every class plus assessment of a submitted project package as a whole.

Approach 3 - island hopping

  • Good for an advancedcourse exploring several specific areas of Autodesk® Revit® in detail.
  • The number of students should not exceed 15 people, because more teacher’s time will be needed for individual work with each of them.
  • First class should be a general introduction to Autodesk® Revit® design or analytical environment.
  • The course is divided into three parts, each of them exploring in detail a different modelling or analyticaltool or set of tools in Autodesk® Revit®. Those parts may or may not be related to each other.
  • After each part students submit a small project – a result of their in-depth creative research of the topics discussed in class. The projects should focus on a quality of design as a result of using advanced BIM tools.
  • During classes, enough time should be allocated for individual work with students as they may encounter many complex problems while working on their projects.
  • Most important or common problems should be discussed and solved with the whole class.
  • The course assessment should be based on the three projects with special emphasis on the creativity and innovation demonstrated in using advanced Autodesk® Revit® tools.
  • An exhibition of students’ works may be organized at the end of term to promote the course within the academic community.

Basic vs. Advanced

Basic course

Basic course in Autodesk® Revit®should assume that students have no prior knowledge of a program and that they may have very different interests - not necessarily towards exploring nuances of software or configuring Autodesk® Revit® working environment. Such course should simply teach them a convenient toll, which will make their work easier and more productive.It should also eliminate possible frustrations that could discourage students from learning the program at the start. This requires a teacher to do some preparation and configuration work in Autodesk® Revit®, like:

  • Selecting the right project template or creating a new one if necessary.
  • Configuring system families like Walls, Floors, Curtain Systems, Dimensions, etc., so that their look and naming conventions are appropriate for the purpose of the course.
  • Finding and testing component families that will be used during the course. There are hundreds of Autodesk® Revit® families available in internet for free, but only some of them are of a good quality or behave both in plan and in 3D as we would like. The students should still have a choice, but from a limited pool of tested families.

Basic course should teach the minimum Autodesk® Revit® skills needed for achieving certain goals like building conceptual model or creatingproject documentation.

Advanced course

Students of such course already have some knowledge and interest in BIM technology. So it may be assumed that they will be able to do some research and configuration themselves if needed. There may be two kinds of advanced Autodesk® Revit® course:

  1. Exploring wider and in detail topics discussed during the basic course and introducing new, but related tools and ideas. This type of course requires prior completing of a basic Autodesk® Revit® course.
  2. Exploring in detail a limited numberof advancedfunctions or tools in Autodesk® Revit®, like Conceptual Energy Analysis or Adaptive Pattern Components. This course does not require completing the basic course. General knowledge of Autodesk® Revit® necessary only for the scope of the course can be taught on the fly.

Advanced course should introduce more complex concepts and functions of Autodesk® Revit®like designing parametric families with formulas, which should be used by students for their assignments. Those assignments should be challenging enough to require from the student in depth exploration and experimentationwith the program and encourage critical thinking and creativity.

Sample plan of anAutodesk® Revit® course

based on Approach 1 for a class of 20-25 people

Course title:

Introduction to Building Information Modeling and Management

Autodesk® Revit® Architecture

Class 1

  1. INTRODUCTION TO BIM
  2. Organization of the course.
  3. Structure and topics of the course.
  4. History and principles of BIM technology.
  5. Future of BIM.
  6. Examples of buildings designed in Revit.
After discussing the organizational and logistic issues, a Power Point presentation discusses main features of BIM, positions the technology in the historical context and tries to define its place within the architectural profession now and in future.No work in Revit is done yet.
Class 2
  1. FIRST LOOK AT REVIT ANDMODELING
  2. Revit Graphic User Interface ( GUI ).
  3. Basic operations.
  4. Starting a new project from a template file.
  5. Creating a site boundary using global coordinates.
Starting from this class the students work only on their computers and follow actions performed by the teacher step by step. Before every class they receive hand-outs (1-3 pages) summarizing the contents of the class.
At the beginning students become familiar with the Revit environment and train several most basic commands like selection, move, copy and rotate on a specially prepared sample model. Then a real work begins by starting a New Project from a template and using the topographical data of a real site to create a site in Revit and position it correctly with true coordinates.
Class 3
  1. MASSING STUDIES 1
  2. Importing external 2D contents to Revit.
  3. Different ways of creating 3D contents.
  4. Creating building form with In-Place Mass tool.
  5. Levels and Plan Views.
First a hand sketch of a tower plan is imported to Revit and adjusted to the previously created site. This aims to simulate the real process of conceptual design, which usually begins with hand sketches. The first in-place massing form is then built based on this sketch and various methods of creating 3D contents are demonstrated. Next, levels, floor plans and mass floors are created for the initial tower form.
Class 4
  1. MASSING STUDIES 2
  2. Drawing building setback lines.
  3. Creating and naming Reference Planes.
  4. Reference Planes vs. Working Planes
  5. Cutting solid mass with void masses.
This class covers further issues related to modelling like using Reference Planes and Working Planes, Boolean operations with void masses, etc. The result should be a complete conceptual massing model of a 35 floor tower.
Class 5
  1. CREATING BUILDING ELEMENTS 1
  2. Converting mass forms to building elements (using Building Maker).
  3. Hierarchical organization of objects in Revit (families, types, instances).
  4. Creating building elements using system and component families.
  5. Using groups for repeatable portions of buildings.
Here the tools of Building Maker are used to convert massing into building elements. Then the concepts of system families, component families, types and instances are discussed and demonstrated.
Class 6
  1. CREATING BUILDING ELEMENTS 2
  2. Curtain Walls and Curtain Wall Systems.
  3. Designing and modelling Stairs.
  4. Other building elements (Doors, Windows).
  5. Techniques for area calculation.
This class continues adding various types of 3D content to a Revit model.
Class 7
  1. MID TERM REVIEW AND PROBLEM SOLVING SESSION
By this time students should have basic knowledge about modelling in Revit and be able to present rough models of their own projects. They will also have many questions and problems, which should be addressed during this or next class. The review should have a form of a working session with the whole class participating in discussion, exchanging ideas, etc.
Class 8
  1. MODELING BUILDING SITE
  2. Solving submitted problems .
  3. Creating topographic surface from an imported CAD file.
  4. Creating Graded Regions.
  5. Excavating the building site ( Building Pad ).
  6. Tools for editing topographic surfaces.
After solving some of the problems submitted by students the site modelling tools are introduced. At the end of this class the previously created model should also have its topography and basement floors modelled.
Class 9
  1. PRESENTATION TECHNIQUES
  2. 3D views and their viewing modes.
  3. Introduction to rendering.
  4. Creating and managing drawing sheets.
As the project submitted at the end of the term has to be properly presented and composed on sheets, this class covers basic information about setting up and rendering 3D views and preparing sheets.
Class 10
  1. PROJECT ORGANIZATION TECHNIQUES
  2. Object styles.
  3. Design options.
  4. Managing views.
  5. View templates.
This class covers in greater detail topics related to managing drawings, their visual representation and elements of project management, which should have been briefly introduced earlier. However due to their complex and often confusing nature in Revit those issues deserve more attention and time to explain.
Class 11
  1. OBTAINING AND ORGANIZING QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION FROM REVIT
  2. Areas and Rooms.
  3. Schedules.
This class discusses in detail methods of measuring and presenting areas in Revit and gives basic information about various kinds of schedules.
Class 12 and 13
FINAL REVIEW OF STUDENTS’ PROJECTS
For an average class of 20 people two 2 hour sessions will be needed to present their work. With a short break in the middle of each session every student will have about 10 minutes to present the semester project and answer a few questions. This review is different from a working style mid-term review, because students are also assessed for the way they present the project, so they need to do a bit more preparation.

Sample hand-out for a Revit class