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Chapter 10

Working with Phasing, Groups,

and Design Options

Projects will progress through various stages during design and construction. As a result, it’s
sometimes necessary to distinguish the element of time within your project: when something is
created, if it is demolished, and what it will look like when the project is complete. Beyond just
phasing, design is also about maintaining relationships between repetitive elements. Sometimes
this repetitive element can be a single component in your project, such as a light or a piece of
furniture. But it can also be an entire collection of elements, such as a typical room in a hotel or
hospital.
Another fundamental aspect of design is the iteration of options. You have to be able to see
many ideas simultaneously and in context with other ideas. The client and contractor need to
see options and alternates. It’s important that these options not be fully independent, separate
files so that the results can be analyzed and compared.
This chapter focuses on these three concepts: time, repetition, and iteration of options. In
®
®
Autodesk Revit Architecture software, they’re addressed with phasing, groups, and design
options, respectively.
In this chapter, you’ll learn to:
◆ ◆◆ Use the Phasing tools to create, demolish, and propose a new design

◆ ◆◆ Understand and utilize groups
◆ ◆◆ Create and use design options

Using Phasing

Phasing is the software’s method of allowing you to add the element of time to objects in your
project. It’s easy to think of an architectural design in terms of what something is, where
something is, and how it will be assembled. Phasing adds the dimension of when something is,
which is incredibly useful and powerful.
Phases are most useful for doing the kinds of tasks that require you to show when elements
are being introduced into your design: showing demolition and new construction in an existing
building, for example. But a few words of caution and clarification: We don’t recommend using
extensive phasing to simulate construction sequencing, which is sometimes referred to as 4D.
It might seem like a great idea at first, but ultimately it will degrade the performance of your
model and lead to confusion across your project team.
There’s a far more efficient method of simulating construction sequences that allows model
elements to be scheduled, viewed, and even color-coded based on the sequence value that you
define: project parameters.

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