RTC Asia 2015 wrapup

Presentation on Best Tall Building - Documented in Revit

I arrived home a week ago after attending the inaugural Asian Revit Technology Conference (RTC) in Singapore - another great success from the RTC Events team.  Attended by over 200 people from 23 countries - many from Singapore.  The conference was held in the Equarius Hotel on Sentosa Island, which has been turned into a giant resort island - a big change from when I last visited. Then it was a remote jungly part of Singapore only accessible by cable-car.  Singapore was very hazy - shrouded in smoke drifting across from forest fires in Sumatra (probably deliberately lit to clear land for palm oil plantations).  It made outdoor photography difficult, but it didn't hold the conference proceedings back, as the typically over-cooled air-conditioning took care of that.  I attended several very interesting sessions, and as always I learnt new things about Revit.

The Friday evening function was held at Tanjong beach, and inevitably a number of RTC committee members ended up in the swimming pool by the end of the evening.
The gala dinner was held at the Park Royal Hotel, designed by WOHA - a very interesting 'open' design that incorporates a large amount of greenery at various levels of the building (more than the site area).

The pods suspended out from the swimming pool create interesting private spaces as well as adding some drama

There was a fabulous spiral stair leading from the lobby up to the function areas - 50 steps in one run, without a single landing.  Not sure how they were allowed to do that? 

But at least they had handrails, unlike one spiral stair I saw in Sri Lanka the previous week - perhaps they were so frustrated by trying to model Revit railings they just left them off?  Not much fun if you are scared of heights!

Near Ahungalla, Sri Lanka

Perfect Stair Railing Transitions at Half Landings

I am currently in Sri Lanka en route to the inaugural Asian Revit Technology Conference in Singapore - RTC Asia 2015 at the Singapore  from 10 - 12 September 2015.  If you can possibly get to RTC in Singapore next week you really should do so - you will certainly learn a lot about Revit and/or BIM, regardless of your skill levels.  Your investment in the conference will pay for itself many times over.

The reason for my current detour is to do some research for the conference - to learn from one of the great masters of architectural detailing, renowned Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa.  He has designed many beautiful buildings by perfectly managing spaces, repeating patterns and a great attention to detail - all with an elegant simplicity.

At the conference I will be presenting a lab session on stairs and railings (afternoon on day one), so I have been paying close attention to handrail details.  Some of Bawa's details are very chunky, as per the style of the time - but they still look good several decades later.

Sometimes Bawa's details are less elegant than whimsical - in fact can be downright scary, but those examples are few and far between: 

5-headed cobra handrail termination

Now that would be a challenge for Revit to model as a handrail termination!

Railing Transitions

Handrail transitions at half landings have always been a problem for Revit to achieve neatly, but with the changes to railings in v2013 the situation actually got worse - if you try to use the new Top Rail or Handrail features.  Revit seems to require lots of extra horizontal space to make the turns - as documented previously - Top Rail Transitions and Top Rail Offsets. 

Geoffrey Bawa detailed his handrails to transition perfectly where they turned a corner without the extra horizontal lengths that Revit insists on, as seen below:

Revit Transitions

Bawa Transitions

If Bawa and his craftsmen could do it perfectly, why can't Revit?  Revit should learn from a great master.