ARCH653 Project by Hongyun Zhou: October 2011

In Project1, I choose to build the model of Allianz Arena, which is a football stadium and home to both Munich clubs - Bayern and TSV 1860.

Basically, there are three steps in modeling:

1. To build a parametric mass family to control the shape of the model.

2. To build a skin family to control the facade of the model.

3. Load mass family and skin family into a project, creating the real building based on the mass.

Specific Process in the three steps

Creating Mass Family:

My idea is to build the axonometric drawing of the stadium firstly, then use the function of Sweep to
form the basic shape of the stadium.

1. Floor Plan

Based on the information about Allianz Arena, draw the floor plan

Set Parameters as:

Arena Length - User define

Arena Width = Arena Length * 0.88

Based on the Width& Length ratio of the original building
Arena Corner Radius = Arena Length * 0.25
By estimation

2. Axonometric drawing of the stadium

Set point on this line, draw on the plane of the point which is perpendicular to the floor plan plane.

By estimation, set the height of the stadium as 160 feet. I simplify the building into four floors -
Lower Tier, Middle Tier, Upper Tier and Roof, so each floor is 40' high.

Seats have row gradient: Lower Tier = 24°

Middle Tier = 30°

Upper Tier = 34°

Now I can get the depth of each floor:

Lower Tier Depth = 40' / tan(24°)

Middle Tier Depth = 40' / tan(30°)

Upper Tier Depth = 40' / tan(34°)

Roof Length = Lower Tier Depth + Middle Tier Depth + Upper Tier Depth

Set the arch of Roof as 20°

The radius of the outside half circle = 120'
Use reference planes to realize these dimension control

3. Choose the axonometric drawing and the frame on the floor plan, create form, I get the primary
mass model like this.

Creating Skin Family:

1. In the mass family, divide specific surfaces into grids.

2. Choose the pattern and curtain panel similar to the original building.

3. Make changes to the curtain panels to get the same visual effect to the original building.

4. Create a parameter to control material of the curtain panel, later I can change the color of
the building based on the football game demand.

Creating BIM Project:

1. Load the Mass and Skin Families into a project.

2. Turning the mass surface into floors, exterior walls and ceiling.

3. Adding seats, lights, floor entrances and football field.

4. Under the Stadium, there is a huge parking lot.
The inside view and outside view of the finished building

Experience from Revit modeling application

Generally, I get good experience in creating my building by Revit. The generic mass family enables me to create the building of special shape. I can easily change the shape once I defined the control parameters. Revit also reminds me of the error in modeling. For example, once I create the axonometric drawing of
the stadium, when I use command of sweep, Revit refuses the command by telling that self-intersecting
or singular geometry would result. Then I know I need to adjust the dimension of the model.

Some limitations I met in modeling:

1. Once I use the command Sweep to form the mass, I cannot easily change the dimension of the building,
it will show errors when I try to increase the length of the building. But before using Sweep, I can
freely increase the length.

2. In creating the skin family, I met the most challenging part in the project. There is no existing
curtain panels with the same shape to the real building, which is parallelogram. So I tried to
create the specific curtain panel. But I met a lot of problems.
The professor and the other students gave me some suggetion. However, each method
has its own limitation, which prevents me from making exactly the same curtain panels to the original building. Making changes in existing patterns and curtain panels is much easier than creating new one. Maybe in the future, Revit could include more family templates in the library.

Test by creating different panels to fit the original building:
Using Rectangle Panel