By John Flanagan
Limitations of Revit for Landscaping
Within the realm of landscape architecture, the main issue with using Revit is the lack of landscape-oriented workflows. This can be seen immediately on the ‘Massing and Site’ ribbon in Revit, where there are only three site-specific/landscape tools: Create a Toposurface, Modify a Toposurface, and Create Property Lines. Of these three tools, the first is easily the most substantial regarding modelling.
The following illustrations show typical landscapes that can be produced using the landscape and floor tools in Revit Architecture.
Residential Landscape 1: Creating a Toposurface by placing points.
The toposurface in this residential project was created with the Place Point site tool. Site components such as trees and patio furniture were added, and the buildings were linked to the site.
Residential Landscape 2: Using Floors to create hardscape surfaces.
In this residential landscape, Floor types were created for the paving, patio, road and grass area. Site components and planting have also been added.
Urban Landscape
Two views of an urban streetscape are shown here: the default 3D view and a camera perspective view.
In this streetscape, similar techniques were used to create the road and paved areas. Added components include lighting, vehicles, furniture and people.