
The AEC technology industry has been seeing increasing momentum in the extension of the model-based concept of BIM to the design and development of infrastructure projects such as roads, railways, and bridges, with several tools targeted towards civil engineers. However, tools that extend BIM to the comparatively smaller domain of landscape architecture are still non-existent. For the most part, landscape architects are still working in 2D CAD, even if the corresponding building design has been done using BIM. Not only does this prevent landscape architects from availing of the many benefits of BIM that their architectural and engineering colleagues are enjoying, it also makes it difficult for them to be an integral part of the building team early on when the most critical decisions about the building design are made.
This review looks at Environment, a plug-in to Revit that extends its capabilities for site and landscape design. It includes tools for modeling terrain from scratch, visualizing and analyzing topography, creating outdoor walls and railings quickly along sloped surfaces, and other useful tasks routinely performed by landscape architects.
URL: https://www.aecbytes.com/review/2021/EnvironmentforRevit.html
This is impressive software for modeling a site, but I found myself asking questions that were not addressed:
1. What will the site look like after various periods of time (1 yr, 2 yrs, 5 yrs, etc.)
2. How much water will it take to provide adequate support for the vegetation
3. What special problems will the vegetation provide, e.g., bug infestations, deer attraction, mowing and trimming requirements.
4. How much (roughly) will it cost to purchase, plant and care for the vegetation.
5. How long will the vegetation last before it needs to be replaced?
Hi pteicholz!
Thank you for the interesting questions, the answer to all of them is that it is most defiantly on our road map! We are currently setting the foundation for Landscape Architecture to use Revit regularly and once all the hardscape tools will be available, the possibilities are endless. So we are planning to go deep into issues such as vegetation, soil, and water. Also to make this BIM model be of use later in the project life we hope to create some features that will facilitate the maintenance of the landscape.