Building hierarchy

Tekla Structures
2021
Tekla Structures

Building hierarchy

You can create a location breakdown structure in your model by defining a building hierarchy. You can define the building hierarchy for one building. The building hierarchy definition and the object locations in the hierarchy are common for all users of the model. Building hierarchy is shared when using Tekla Model Sharing.

To create a building hierarchy in a model, set the XS_USE_INTEGRATED_BUILDING_HIERARCHIES advanced option to TRUE, and reopen the model.

Click File > Project properties > Levels & hierarchies to open the Building hierarchy dialog box that shows the building hierarchy structure. You can use the hierachy structure in Organizer and the building hierarchy data in IFC export.

How to use the Building hierarchy dialog box

Description

1

This is the default hierarchy structure. You cannot remove it from the dialog box.

  • You can define the name of the project in the project properties.

  • Site is an entity that defines the location of the building in the world and in the IFC in the project.

  • Building is an entity that belongs to the site. Building has one or multiple floors.

  • Floor is a volume in a building. A construction assembly can only belong to one floor. A floor has an elevation that is in many cases defined by the architect, and it often defines the finish floor level.

    Floor is represented as storey in IFC.

2

Elevation is the floor level that the architect has defined.

The elevation is often the finish floor level that is also used by MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumming) designers. Elevation can also be used to define structural levels, or if an architectural IFC model is not available.

Elevation is visualized with red color in the model view.

3

Level offset defines the design level that represents the modeling level of the floor. For steel structures, it is normally top of steel (TOS).

Design level is visualized with green color in the model view.

4

Bottom offset defines the floor bottom level when the floor of the assembly is automatically set. Bottom offset is the offset relative to the elevation.

Bottom level is visualized with blue color in the model view.

5

Visualize the selected floor levels in the model view.

6

Update the floor elevations from a selected IFC reference model.

Floors with names and elevations are added to the Building hierarchy dialog box with the current level offset, bottom offset, and level information settings.

7

Adjust the levels of the selected grids based on the floor data.

8

Define the floor elevation, bottom offset, level offset, and level information.

Add the data to the table.

9

Update the floor data.

Select the floors in the table and modify the information in the boxes above the table.

10

Enter a name for the settings that you have defined in the boxes above the table and click Save.

The settings are saved in a *.bhuistd file in the \<model>\attributes folder.

Example: Create and update floors

  1. Click File > Project properties > Levels & hierarchies to open the Building hierarchy dialog box.

  2. If needed, change the name of the site and the building in the hierarchy structure by selecting the site or the building. Then click the box that shows the name, and enter a new name.

  3. Select the Visualize levels check box to visualize the selected floor levels in the model view.

  4. Enter the floor elevation, bottom offset, and level offset in the boxes above the table.

  5. Click Add.

    You can add several floors with the same height by adding the floor height to the additional elevation, and clicking Add as many times as needed.

  6. Click Modify to apply the changes to the floors in the model.

    The model objects will get the floor based on the elevation in the model.

  7. Save the settings that you have defined in the boxes above the table. Enter a name for the settings in the list box at the top and click Save.

    The *.bhuistd file is saved in the \<model>\attributes folder.

You can update the floor information. Select one or more floors in the table, update the information in the boxes above the table, and click Update.

To delete a floor from the table, select the row in the table and click Delete.

When you inquire a model object, the building hierarchy information is shown in the result.

You can use the Location breakdown structure category to filter building hierarchy objects based on their location.

Example: Building hierarchy in Organizer

You can use Organizer to view the building hierarchy that you have defined in the Building hierarchy dialog box.

  1. Define the building hierarchy in File > Project properties > Levels & hierarchies.

  2. On the Manage tab, click Organizer.

  3. Select Synchronize in the dialog box that opens to get the building hierarchy to Organizer.

    The building hierarchy is shown at the top part of the Categories section and it has a green icon .

    When you make changes in the Building hierarchy dialog box, you need to synchronize Organizer to get the changes to Organizer.

  4. If needed, you can manually make changes in the floors, for example, move assemblies to another floor.

    Select the assembly in the model, then right-click the target floor in Organizer, and click the Move the selected objects command. Synchronize Organizer.

    You can remove the changes that you have manually made. Select the category, click and select Manage manual changes. Select the manually added objects marked with or , right-click and select Remove manual changes. Synchronize Organizer.

Note:

IFC2x3 export uses the building hierarchy floors when the Spatial hierarchy from Organizer setting is selected. This means that the hierarchy created in Organizer cannot be used at the same time. Set XS_USE_INTEGRATED_BUILDING_HIERARCHIES to FALSE to use the hierarchies created in Organizer.

Example: Create and update floors by using an IFC reference model

You can, for example, update the floor elevations from an IFC reference model.

  1. To insert an architectural IFC model to your model, click File > Import > Insert reference model.

  2. Select the reference model from the list or use the appropriate selection switch to select from the model.

  3. Click File > Project properties > Levels & hierarchies.

  4. Click Update from reference model.

    Tekla Structures displays a dialog box about replacing the current hierarchy levels. If you select Yes, the possible existing floor data is removed.

    Floors with names and elevations are added to the Building hierarchy dialog box with the current level offset, bottom offset, and level information settings.

  5. If needed, Update the levels.

  6. Click Modify to apply the changes to the floors.

Note that the reference model vertical location and project base point relative elevation have an effect on the elevations in the Building hierarchy dialog box and in the model.

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