Create Retaining Wall with Parameters in Revit

 

I was asked today in Revit Clinic forum by one of our members how to design and create a 3D retaining wall with parameters in Revit. We already know that retaining wall is a structural wall that holds back rocks and soil from the building, and now we can learn how build one in Revit.

In this article I am going to describe how to build a editable retaining wall with instance parameters in Revit Architecture. If you work with Revit Structure, it will be the same step by step.

Here is how to build a 3-Dimensional Retaining Wall in Revit:

1-Start a new project in Revit Architecture or Structure
2-Under the Home menu click on Component and then Model In-Place





3-Select Walls under Family Category and Parameters and Click OK





4-Give a name for the Retaining wall (I just called it Retaining wall.)
5-In the new window, click on Solid and Swept Blend (this is the easiest tool to create retaining walls in Revit.)





6-Click on Sketch Path





7-In the new edit mode, start drafting the path of the retaining wall. You can start from the West to East, North to South or whatever you want to but it is important to know which side is your East, West, North, or South for naming the parameters later. (I just started my retaining wall from West to East.)
8-After you are done with the path; grab the Dimension Tool (DI with shortcut) and dimension the length of the wall and lock it to the endpoints of the path of the retaining wall. Remember that it is not important how long the retaining wall is, because we will be able to modify the parameters later on.





9-Select the Dimension Line
10-Click on None under Label to add parameter (as shown in the picture)



11-Under Parameter Properties give a name such as Length of Retaining Wall. Select Dimensions under Group Parameter Under tab and select Instance and click OK.



12-Click on Finish Path to finish the sketch of the path of the retaining wall
13-Click on Edit Profile
14-In Go To View select the view which is going to be the first profile for the retaining wall (in step 7, I described that you are going to have two sides which could be North-South or West-East) I have my retaining wall in West-East direction and I selected east view first in my tutorial.
15-Draft the retaining wall as shown in the picture



16-Grab dimension tool and dimension the important parameters such as the length if the footing, height of the footing, height of the foundation wall, heel length, toe length, thickness of top of the foundation wall. It is important to grab the edges of the lines when you dimension the parameters. After you are done with dimensioning, select each individually, lock them, and click None under label, and add parameter. Give a name and select Dimensions under Group Parameter Under tab and select Instance and click OK. Do not forget that all these parameters are important to be recognizable in the future when you want to modify the parameters of the retaining wall. Because of that give names which can be understandable for everyone who would work with the same project. But also do not forget to add east, west, north, or south to the names that you can recognize them later in the instance parameters of the retaining wall. After you are done with creating all important parameters, your drawing should look the picture bellow.



17-Switch the view from east to west view
18-Click on Finish Profile
19-Click on Modify Profile 2
20-Click on Edit profile button
21-Grab the drafting tool and sketch the outline of the retaining wall on top of the sketches from the east side.
22-When you are done with sketching, then start dimensioning and creating parameters just like you have done in the step 14 from this tutorial. I used west in the name of parameters.
23-When you are done with creating the parameters, click on Finish Profile
24-Click on Finish Swept Blend
25-Click on Finish Model

Your finished retaining wall will look like mine in the picture bellow. In this stage you will be able to change parameters under the Element Properties. You can save it as a new family which you can use anytime for any project because you are able to change all parameters to design your own retaining wall in Revit.



I hope I could help you guys with this tutorial how to design and build a retaining wall with editable instance parameters in Revit Architecture and Structure. Please do not hesitate to write comments about this tutorial, because Revit Clinic wants to create high quality and useful tutorials for Revit users around the world.

Source: revitclinic.com.