Exercise 2–Add Interior Walls

Adding interior walls is quite similar to exterior walls. Let’s put in some interior spaces.

Catch-up file completed to this point: 06_Medical Center_Int_Walls_A.rvt

Draw Walls

Make sure the Level 1 floor plan is active. Close any other tabs or windows. Zoom in on the middle of the plan.

1. On the Architecture tab, on the Build panel, click the Wall tool (or press wa).
2. On the Properties palette, change the type to: Generic - 5". On the Draw panel, click the rectangle icon.
3. Draw a rectangle in the middle of the plan. The exact size is not important (see Figure 6–1).

Figure 6–1 Draw an internal rectangle with a thinner wall type

4. Cancel the command.

Edit using Temporary Dimensions

5. Select the horizontal wall at the bottom of the rectangle you just drew.

Small round shape handles appear on the ends of the temporary dimensions indicating which points they measure to.

6. Click the small round shape handles on each side of the dimension.

Each time you click, it will move the witness lines of the dimension to a new location such as left, center and right faces of the walls.

7. When both witness lines are to the inside faces of the walls, click in the dimension value to set the size of the corridor to: 6'-0" (see Figure 6–2).

Figure 6–2 Edit temporary dimension witness lines and edit to move the wall

While this is effective, it can be a little tedious. An alternative is to create permanent dimensions and then use them to move the walls.

Edit using Permanent Dimensions

When elements that are dimensioned with permanent dimensions are selected, the values activate and become like temporaries. You can therefore use them to edit in the same way. But since they are actual permanent dimensions, they remain when the dimensioned element is deselected.

1. On the Annotate tab, on the Dimension panel, click the Aligned tool (see Figure 6–3).

Figure 6–3 Aligned Dimension tool

2. On the Options Bar, from the first drop-down, choose: Wall Faces (see Figure 6–4).

Figure 6–4 Set the witness line option to Wall Faces

3. Pick the inside face of the upper horizontal exterior wall.
4. Pick each of the outside faces of the horizontal walls making the rectangle in the middle.

Figure 6–5 Place witness lines at the faces of several walls - final click places the dimension element

5. Pick the inside face of the lower horizontal exterior wall.
6. Click in empty white space to finish and place the dimension (see Figure 6–5).
7. Repeat in the other direction (see Figure 6–6).

Figure 6–6 Place a second dimension running horizontally

8. Cancel the command.
9. Select the top wall of the inside rectangle.

Notice that the permanent dimensions activate like the other temporaries. You can now edit either kind. Let’s ignore the temporaries and instead focus on the activated dimensions on the permanent strings we just created.

10. Edit the value of the permanent dimension and make the distance to the upper outside wall: 17'-9".
11. Select the vertical wall on the left of the inner rectangle. Change its value to 16'-1".
12. Select the other vertical wall of the inside rectangle and edit its value to: 13'-3" (see Figure 6–7).

Figure 6–7 Edit the remaining interior walls using the permanent dimensions

If you are having any difficulty with this task, remember that you first select the wall, then edit the dimension. If you try to select the dimension first, it will not move the wall, but will instead display an “Edit Dimension Text” dialog. Also, be sure to change the wall selection before each edit. Otherwise you will move the same wall twice!

Drawing Walls using Dimensions

13. Start the Wall command again.
14. Draw a wall across the rectangle horizontally from midpoint to midpoint. (Midpoints display as a small triangle symbol) (see Figure 6–8).

Figure 6–8 Draw a wall from midpoint to midpoint

15. On the left side of the rectangle, draw a vertical wall 10'-6" from the left. Use the temporary dimension to aid in placement (see Figure 6–9).

Figure 6–9 Use temporary dimensions to guide in placement of new interior walls

16. Repeat to create three more walls for a total of five rooms across. The last room will be smaller (see Figure 6–10).

Figure 6–10 Make four walls total - the last one is smaller

Using Location Line

1. Stay in the wall command. On the Options Bar, change the Location Line to: Finish Face: Interior.
2. Snap to the inside corner endpoint at the exterior walls near grid intersection D6 (see Figure 6–11).

Figure 6–11 Change the location line and draw a wall that is flush to the face of another

3. Draw the wall straight down. Click anywhere; just be sure it is vertical. The exact length is not important.
4. Press esc once to break the chain but stay in the wall command.
5. Snap to the inside endpoint near grid intersection G5. Begin drawing to the right.

Notice that the wall is oriented the wrong way.

6. Tap the spacebar on the keyboard to flip the wall.
7. Draw it out horizontally. The length is not important (see Figure 6–12).

Figure 6–12 Use the spacebar to flip the wall as you draw

8. Use Trim/Extend to Corner (tr) to connect these two walls (see Figure 6–13).

Figure 6–13 Trim/Extend to Corner to connect the two walls

Catch-up file completed to this point: 06_Medical Center_Int_Walls_B.rvt

If you wish to continue adding interior walls, you can add additional offices, exam rooms and utility spaces. Continue with the same techniques covered here, or you can also try other tools on the Modify panel such as Copy or Offset. The plan should look Figure 6–14when you are finished.

Figure 6–14 Add several more interior walls to complete the layout

Columns

Now that we have walls and grids, we can begin adding columns using those elements to help us place them. Columns automatically associate with grids and even interact with walls.