Creating a space schedule in Revit is an efficient way to organize, quantify, and analyze room data, providing valuable insights for project management, facility planning, and reporting. These schedules allow you to track essential information about each space, such as its name, area, and occupancy.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Space Schedule
Follow these straightforward steps to generate a comprehensive space schedule within your Revit project:
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Access the Schedule/Quantities Tool
- Navigate to the View tab in the Revit ribbon.
- Locate the Schedules pull-down menu and select Schedule/Quantities. This action opens the New Schedule dialog box.
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Choose the Space Category
- In the New Schedule dialog, from the Category list, select Spaces. This specifies that your schedule will extract data related to spaces in your model.
- Click OK to proceed.
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Select Schedule Fields
- The Schedule Properties dialog will appear, allowing you to define the data columns for your schedule.
- From the "Available fields" list, add the following parameters to the "Scheduled fields" list by clicking the "Add Parameter" button (or double-clicking them):
- Name
- Space Type
- Area
- Number of People
- Pro-tip: Consider adding other useful fields such as Level, Department, Occupancy, or Comments to enhance the schedule's utility.
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Finalize Schedule Creation
- After selecting all desired fields, click OK. Revit will automatically generate the schedule view, which opens as a new tab in your project browser.
Customizing Your Space Schedule
Once created, you can further refine your space schedule to present information precisely as needed. The Schedule Properties dialog (accessible by right-clicking the schedule in the Project Browser and selecting "Properties" or by clicking "Properties" in the ribbon when the schedule is active) offers various tabs for customization.
Adding and Removing Fields
You can always modify the data columns in your schedule.
- To add fields: In the Fields tab of Schedule Properties, move parameters from "Available fields" to "Scheduled fields."
- To remove fields: Select an unwanted parameter from "Scheduled fields" and click "Remove Parameter."
- Useful additional fields often include:
- Base Offset / Limit Offset: To understand the vertical boundaries of the space.
- Volume: For calculating air changes or heating/cooling loads.
- Calculated Values: To create custom formulas, e.g., "Area per Person."
- Occupancy Calculated: To show calculated occupancy based on area.
Sorting and Grouping
Organize your schedule data for better readability and analysis.
- In the Sorting/Grouping tab, you can sort items by any field (e.g., by Level, then by Space Type).
- Check "Grand totals" or "Totals only" to summarize data.
- Enable "Header" and "Footer" to add descriptive rows for grouped items.
Filtering Data
Control which spaces appear in your schedule.
- The Filter tab allows you to set criteria to include or exclude specific spaces. For example, you might filter to show only spaces on a particular level or spaces with an area greater than a certain value.
Formatting Appearance
Enhance the visual presentation of your schedule.
- The Formatting tab enables you to adjust parameters like text alignment, heading names, and conditional formatting (e.g., highlighting spaces that exceed a certain occupancy).
- The Appearance tab controls fonts, grid lines, and how rows/columns appear on sheets.
Practical Applications and Best Practices
Space schedules are indispensable tools throughout a project's lifecycle:
- Occupancy Planning: Easily determine the number of occupants per space or for the entire building.
- Area Analysis: Quickly calculate gross, net, or departmental areas for reporting and code compliance.
- Facility Management: Provide essential data for maintenance, cleaning, and asset management post-construction.
- Cost Estimation: Link space data to material costs for preliminary budgeting.
- Data Consistency: Ensure all spaces have required data filled in, improving model accuracy.
Best Practices for Effective Space Schedules:
- Consistent Naming: Use clear and consistent naming conventions for all spaces.
- Boundary Checking: Regularly verify that space boundaries are correctly defined and enclose the intended areas. Use the Visibility/Graphics Overrides to display spaces in floor plans to check their extent.
- Leverage Phases: If your project has multiple phases, ensure your schedules are correctly phased to display relevant information for each stage.
- Utilize Templates: Create schedule templates for common types of schedules to maintain consistency across projects.
- Custom Parameters: If standard Revit parameters don't meet your needs, create shared project parameters for specific data collection. Learn more about creating parameters on the Autodesk Knowledge Network.
Example Space Schedule Parameters
This table illustrates common parameters used in space schedules and their utility:
| Parameter | Description | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Name | The descriptive name of the space (e.g., "Office," "Conference Room"). | Identification, Room Tagging |
| Number | A unique identifier for the space. | Sorting, Referencing, Facility Management |
| Space Type | Categorizes the space (e.g., "Circulation," "Work Area"). | Grouping, Area Analysis, Code Compliance |
| Area | The calculated square footage or square meterage of the space. | Quantifying, Cost Estimation, Planning |
| Volume | The calculated cubic footage or meterage of the space. | HVAC Calculations, Air Quality Analysis |
| Level | The floor or level on which the space is located. | Filtering, Organizing by Floor |
| Department | The department or function associated with the space. | Departmental Planning, Budgeting |
| Occupancy | The design occupancy of the space. | Code Compliance, Life Safety Planning |
| Number of People | The actual count of people assigned to the space. | Staffing Plans, Furniture Layouts |
| Comments | General notes or additional information about the space. | Project Notes, Specific Requirements |
Exporting Your Schedule
Once your schedule is complete, you can easily export it for use in other applications like Microsoft Excel for further analysis or reporting.
- Open the schedule view in Revit.
- Go to the File tab, select Export, then navigate to Reports, and choose Schedule.
- Revit will prompt you to save the schedule as a delimited text file (TXT), which can then be easily opened and formatted in Excel.
