Workspace Layout

Use this sample study type with Generative Design in Revit to generate alternatives for the placement of desks in a large room (organized in rows), such as an office space or a classroom.

The left image shows an outcome in Generative Design. The right image shows the outcome when it's integrated into the Revit model.

A workspace layout of desks in Generative Design in Revit, and in a 3D view the same desks placed in the Revit model

In this topic

Note: This Dynamo graph queries the display units from the Revit model and converts any hard-coded values in the graph to that unit system. For example, 4 feet is converted to 1.219 meters.

Goals

When creating a study using the Optimize method, you can choose from the following goals:

Views to outside

This metric attempts to measure the quality of views to outside from the desks where they are placed. It calculates and averages the view scores across all desks by assigning relative values to each desk. Desks with no view get a value of zero. The desk with the best view is set as 1, with the remaining values falling between this range.

The view metric for a single desk is calculated as the distance to the nearest view target (a point that falls on a window or curtain wall element) from the desk's seat location point. A view target is only considered to be within range if it falls within a minimum distance from the seat (20 feet or 6 meters), and is within the defined view cone. The view cone is a 110 degree arc centered on the desk user's facing direction. This filter prevents windows that are behind a desk from being counted as within view for each desk.

Average distance to exits

The study calculates the shortest path routes from each desk to each door in the room. If the room has multiple doors, it chooses the shortest path for each desk. It then adds the length of all paths (one per desk) and divides by the number of paths.

Accessing the study type

In the Create Study dialog, the study type is available from the Autodesk Samples folder.

To open the study type in Dynamo, navigate to this folder:

If you can't find the study type in that location, you can download it using the following link. The ZIP file contains the DYN file and its Dependencies folder. Unzip (extract) its contents to a folder on your computer.

Preparing the model

To create a study of this type, the Revit model must contain the following:

Before creating a study of this type, do the following:

  1. Open the Revit model.

    If desired, you can download and use rac_advanced_sample_project.rvt with this study type.

  2. Open a view to display the target room.

    During the process of creating the study, you'll select the target room and the desk instance.

    For example, in rac_advanced_sample_project.rvt, open the 03 - Floor plan, and zoom into the room in the upper left corner, Open Office 321.

  3. To make it easier to select the room, turn on visibility for rooms in the view.
  4. Also turn on visibility for furniture in the view.
  5. Add a desk to the room (or near the room).

    For example, in rac_advanced_sample_project.rvt, in Open Office 321, add a student desk.

Inputs

When creating a study, you can specify the following inputs.

Outputs

When exploring outcomes of a study, the following outputs are displayed:

See Goals for more details.

Geometry visualization

The following is a sample workspace layout.

Room geometry

Desk colors

Views to outside

Known issues and limitations