AIA East Bay member Robert Ward, RA has collaborated with Paul Aubin to develop at innovative solution for coffered vaults in Revit. The online class is available on Paul Aubin’s Linkin Learning Channel. Paul Aubin published Renaissance Revit which is to date the best and only design guide to creating robust and accurate classical architecture in BIM. The video supplement is an addition to that canon for a vital missing element: coffered vaults and ceilings. Architects practicing in the New Classical style and performing adaptive reuse on historic buildings (HBIM) will find this short class informative and useful.
Circular vaults are typically found enclosing interior spaces in civic buildings, as a ceiling typology in luxury villas, and on the involute of arches. Typically this vault is subdivided into recessed panels called coffers. This technique can be used for any of these applications.
With the rise of New Urbanism and Neo-Traditional architecture. The demand for authentic classical architecture has increased. Additionally, many existing historic buildings in the classical style are undergoing adaptive reuse, which requires an intense amount of effort to document and preserve existing features.
Any architect practicing in these realms will benefit from the accuracy and impress clients with the beautiful graphics produced by this technique. Especially useful, is the automatic generation of the gradual distortion of coffers around the curve of the vault on the Reflected Ceiling Plan projection.
For the full technique, the class can be found here