Looking for tips on how to draw this building in CA

[westvale]

Hello friends,

I'm furthering my education in interior design and have a new challenging assignment. While most students are using AutoCad and Revit, I'm trying to stick to CA.  I'm looking for any suggestions on how to model this building in CA.  I'm just starting out and the first things that I need help with are, one, how to make a flat roof in CA, and two, how to make this style of roof structure.  Any educated suggestions (preferably not guesses) are appreciated. It would also be great to know how to best make these curtain walls...

 

[joey_martin]

Lots of invisible walls to form the rooms and solids and symbols.

 

[GeneDavis]

What tools and techniques would be used to model it in Revit?  In Autocad?

 

Do those apps have parametric tools for modeling the space-truss roof?

[mtldesigns]

1 hour ago, westvale said:

AutoCad and Revit, I'm trying to stick to CA.

As a person who uses all 3 (Mostly AutoCad and CA), this is going to require some creative thinking no matter what you use.  If the ceiling grid is the same, as in spacings, sizes, etc. I would probably create one section, block it, then array, def. will be trial and error.  This being a triangle shaped will make it even more difficult too.  A lot of subtractions as you get to the edges.  Do you have an idea on the shape and spacing of that grid or is it all a guess?  It will be a challenge, but things like this gets me excited.. a fresh cup (or pot) of coffee, some tunes, and just model away... 

 

Good luck, I hope you get an A

[JiAngelo]

Easiest way to create a flat roof is tell chief the default pitch is  1/4" over 12 with 2" overhangs.  (These need to be wide enough to stick beyond exterior wall finishes)

 

Another way is to create a floor above, no roof, no ceiling, and make all perimeter walls invisible.  But then you have to add your own counterflashing around the perimeter and create your tapered slopes.  OR make all perimeter walls solid rails 2" tall with 0" newels.  Then add a 1x cap to those walls. 

 

Tell chief the room is named Porch.  It will make the floor 4" concrete (a clean known height that we can adjust later )

Paint the concrete floor your desired EPDM color and also paint those 2" wall & cap to match or paint them your counterflashing color.  You can deal with EPDM slope and drains later. 

 

Now that you have your building shell....

 draw another set of perimeter walls 1 foot inside all the way around. Make this wall invisible it is your tubular roof trusses perimeter support wall. The outer perimeter walls are your curtain walls.  I picked one foot based on your pictures.  Name the 1' perimeter wall room Nook.  Name the interior room Study.

 

On the nook perimeter walls, you can now create floor to ceiling windows OR

You can create a new wall named GlassWall and set its framing the spacing of your glass. 

 

Next; follow Mtldesigns advice on building the trusses with solids or moldings.  it is an 8 point offset lattice with 1 and 5 running 45 degrees across the Z axis to connect 3D to every other truss.  This is in addition to 2&8 and 4&6 connecting 2D every other truss.  3&6 representing the top or bottom chord of each truss.  Again, the 8 point nodes on the bottom are offset from the 8 point nodes on the top.  Struts 1&5 run -45 degrees from top node to bottom of adjacent truss offset node.

 

Update: there are 2 more struts on the z-axis extending above or below 3&6 as well.

[JiAngelo]

Sorry, I wasn't in front of my computer last night.  There is actually a 3' parapet wall around the perimeter of this building.  My phone didn't zoom in close enough for me to see it.

If curtain wall is 20' tall, then Nook = 20' tall, and Study = 16' tall.  Then make the upper porch room walls visible and pull them back to align with the Study perimeter walls.  Specify the room is 3' tall, no roof, no ceiling.  Also make your gables/overhangs 2".  Here's what I drew up this morning - (fresh cup of coffee, tunes down low so as not to wake the wife )   

  

Temporarily I made the Study perimeter walls railings with bottom rail 12' high to define a 4' area for those tubular trusses to be built within.  I also specified 6" round posts to ceiling @ 20' on center, but these posts won't align with my curtain glass wall which I created using framing 4' on center.  (I copied/modified the Glass Shower wall.) 

 

Similarly I tried creating a 4' on center exterior mullion frame over the glass, but that framing won't match up with the studs behind the glass.  Chief does its own thing here.

 

Lastly I started on the tubular trusses using a 4" 3d solid, but the pattern is even more difficult than I original thought.

 

Need to think about this a bit more.  But it is definitely doable in Chief.  I found the floorplan and some other interior images online.

It actually looks like trusses running in 3 different directions.

 

 

[JiAngelo]

The truss design is called a space frame. 

http://www.cnxzlf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/235.jpg

Here's the original architects elevation, roof plan & sections pages

The building is actually 15'5" tall to top of parapets (which are less than 2' above the roof steel decking.).   

[mtldesigns]

15 hours ago, JiAngelo said:

(fresh cup of coffee, tunes down low so as not to wake the wife )

Smart man...

 

 

I'm amazed you found these drawings.  Def would be a cool thing to think through.

[GeneDavis]

This one uses "beer can" nodules, not balls as many do.  The pressformed squeeze on the pipe ends coming unto the nodule join is gonna jack up the poly count to ridiculous levels.

 

i watched a video of a ball-connected frame module being modeled in Revit.  Looked like how I'd do it in Sketchup.

Note in the photo how the bottom chord panels of the frame are arrays of identical  rhombus patterns and how the edge angle is that of the long skew wall's, and the module at the front wall edge is a split of the central one.

 

[westvale]

Wow, there's so much great content here—thank you all! A special thanks to JiAngelo for your detailed suggestions. You've introduced me to a lot of new ideas, and I’m excited to start exploring them. I really appreciate the time and expertise you've shared to help with this challenge.