About Structural Elements

A structural model comprises different structural elements, such as beams, columns, walls, and foundations.

Definition of Structural Elements

Structural elements are the fundamental blocks of a building structure. When you place an element in a structural model, the individual element is called an instance of that element type. The instances of an element type have certain common parameter values. Element instances are broadly divided into four categories: datum, model, view, and annotation. The model category is further subdivided into the component and host categories.

The following illustration shows the categories of element instances and some examples of elements included in these categories.

The following table describes each element category.

Category	Description
Datum	Includes elements such as levels, column grids, and reference planes that establish a context for the host and component elements. These datum elements help layout the building structure.
Model	Includes elements such as walls, floors, columns, and beams that are used to model a structural design.
Component	Includes elements such as beams, columns, braces, and foundations that fill the details of a structural model.
Host	Includes elements such as walls, slabs, roofs, stairs, and ramps that form the basic built-in-place structure of a model.
View	Includes elements such as structural plans, sections, and schedules that are dynamic representations of a structural model, have their own properties, and can be modified or deleted. View elements control the annotation elements placed in a view. If you delete a view, the annotations placed in the view are also deleted. View elements do not control the host and component elements.
Annotation	Includes elements such as dimensions, text notes, section tags, and object tags that are two-dimensional and are visible only in the specified view of a structural model. These elements help create structural documentation.

Elements as Objects

Structural elements such as walls, columns, and beams are called objects. The properties of these objects, such as structure and behavior, are called parameters. These properties simplify the process of creating a structural model. For example, when you draw a wall element in Revit, you do not need to ensure that the wall layer is active as in a conventional CAD application. In addition, you do not need to draw the faces and internal structural details of the wall element separately. The wall element behaves as a wall and has all the visual attributes of a wall, such as the required line weight and color. You can join a wall element to other walls, connect it structurally to floors and ceilings, and place windows and doors in it.

Intelligence is programmed into Revit elements so that their behavior is affected by the relationships they share with other elements.