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Assuming Architectural Room Names and Numbers for MEP

When working with MEP Systems, it is helpful to leverage the work that the architectural team has already done and assume the room names and numbers for our MEP models. There are many reasons do to this. One is for HVAC zone simulations; another is for Electrical circuit assignment automation.

The spaces behave like rooms but have info specific to MEP. In the example that you will see in this blog, we will learn how to automate the process to maximize productivity:

  • Discover the benefit of converting rooms to spaces
  • Assume room names and numbers
  • Learn additional benefits for MEP

Why Convert Rooms to Spaces?

First, we will look at why you would want to create spaces from the linked architectural files.

There are many reasons why you would want to convert the architectural rooms to spaces. One reason is simply that the spaces contain the mechanical HVAC info that rooms don’t have. This would facilitate heating and cooling loads. The walls, floors and ceilings have surfaces with specific thermal values that can be edited for the building types and material construction.

Another reason is for construction documentation. Sometimes the architectural room tags interfere with the MEP systems we are trying to document. The linked category may have the room tags too large, or in the wrong place. This is another useful application of why you would want to create MEP spaces and space tags that we oversee. The new tags MEP teams own can be moved, or scaled properly, and managed differently to supplement information in the MEP floor plans, rather than relying on the architectural room tags that appear through the linked file.

Assume Room Names and Numbers

Once the spaces have been created automatically from the architectural link, we can simply assume the architectural room names and numbers. Revit includes a specific feature that facilitates this for your convenience. If you are not already familiar with it, I would highly encourage you to learn the tool.

Now, let’s learn how to assume room names and numbers. Note: Make sure you have met the prerequisite by creating the spaces using the architectural linked file. Let’s look at a floor plan that has spaces created from the Architectural link to see a real-world example. Below you can see that the spaces have been created from the architectural link but look at what the space tags say. As you can imagine, correcting this can be very cumbersome if it is done manually.

Automating this work is easily accomplished by leveraging the tool in the Analyze ribbon > Space & Zones Panel. Select the Space Naming tool.

The resulting Space Naming dialog box will give you a choice of copying Names, or Numbers or both. It will also give you a choice of all levels or specific levels.

The tool will take over and the dialog box will disappear, letting you know that it completed the task. Look at the results below – You will notice that although it did assume the room names and numbers for a lot of the spaces, it did not do that to all the spaces.

In the example below, we can see that the small column spaces did not get renumbered or renamed. Also, you can see that the large center courtyard space also did not get renamed or renumbered. The reason is that there are no corresponding rooms in the architectural link. It isn’t perfect, however, the heavy lifting has been done for you at this point.

Jay Ayala

Sr. MEP Technical Specialist

Licenses & Certifications

Revit MEP Mechanical Professional Certification

About Jay

Jay has over 24 years of experience in the MEP and engineering industry. He has worked on a variety of projects from Medical Office buildings to mixed-use residential and Commercial buildings.

He is an expert in all Autodesk AEC Industry software. He started using AutoCAD in 1992 and is actively using the entire Autodesk AEC Industry Collection. The CAD drawings he has produced over his career include: Mechanical floor plans of commercial buildings, plumbing drawings, hydronic drawings, electrical drawings, architectural drawings, construction drawings, BIM Coordination, among others.

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