Exercise duration: ~25 minutes

Hosted railings
In this exercise you will open an existing project
and create a ramp by using a floor and editing
its shape. You’ll create a new floor type with a
variable thickness layer.

Then create railings hosted by the ramp and by

a wall next to the steps. You’ll then modify the
railing type to help position the posts correctly.

Learning objectives:

• Use shape editing and assign variable

thickness
• Add and modify railings
• Place hosted railings
The finished project

New ramp and railings

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 Plan setting out details of ramps and railings

1. Open the project Hosted Railings.rvt.

Figure 1. Opening the Revit project file

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2. [CREATE THE RAMP]

Open the Site plan view.

Create a floor from the architecture

ribbon tab to match the location and
dimensions in the plan above. The floor
type should be Site Paving and the
level Basement 1.

Create a Center-Start-End arc, choose

the center point of the wall as the
center of the arc and then lower
quadrant of the wall for the start,
followed by the intersection of the top
slab for the end.
Figure 2. The Site Paving floor type in the
Properties palette
Draw a straight line from the start of
the arc vertical 10ft 9in long and return
to meet the lower slab.

Offset these sketch lines by 4ft to

create the other side of the ramp and
connect the ends to create an enclosed,
continuous sketch.

Choose Finish Edit Mode to create the

slab.

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3. Edit the type properties of the Site
Paving floor type and duplicate to
create a Site Paving Ramp type.

Edit the structure and insert a new

layer below the Site Paving Layer. Set
its thickness to 4 inches and assign the
Concrete, Cast in Place material. Set
this layer to be variable thickness.

Click OK to save changes and apply to

the ramp floor slab

Figure 3. Duplicating the floor type to

create the Site Paving Ramp floor type

4. Create detail lines to position the

landing halfway around the curve of
the ramp. Draw a detail line from the
center of the curve at 45 degrees to
interest the ramp and offset this 3ft in
either direction. Figure 4. The Detail Line tool in the
Annotate ribbon tab
Select the ramp and add split lines as
per the plan above.

Modify Sub-Elements of the ramp and

change the heights to suit the plan
above, bearing in mind the ramp starts
at the Basement 1 level.

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5. [CREATE THE RAILINGS]

Open the Site plan view.

Create a Railing from the Architecture

ribbon tab and set the type to Glass
Panel – Bottom Fill.

The host level should be Site.

Use the Pick Lines draw tool to create a

path that follows the edge of the ramp
as shown in red on the detail plan
Figure 4. The Glass Panel – Bottom Fill
above. railing type in the Properties palette

From the Tools panel on the Create

Railing Path ribbon choose Pick New
Host and then select the ramp as the
host.

Choose Finish Edit Mode to create the

railing and review results in the
Exterior Perspective 3D view.

Repeat the above steps for the

opposite side of the ramp.

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6. Create a new railing to be hosted by the
wall next to the external stairs. The
type must be Guardrail – Pipe.

The location of the railing path is

shown in red on the detail plan above.
Split the railing path into separate lines
where the wall slope begins and ends.

Choose the sloping wall by the stairs to

be the railing host.

Choose Finish Edit Mode to create the

Figure 6. The Guardrail – Pipe railing type in
railing and review results in the
the Properties palette
Exterior Perspective 3D view.

7. Edit the type parameters of the of the

Guardrail – Pipe railing.

Edit the baluster placement settings

and in the Main pattern set the Dist.
from previous to be 5ft and choose
Spread Pattern to Fit from the Justify
drop-down menu.

Figure 7. Changing the baluster placement

Click OK to save the settings and view settings
the results in the in the Exterior
Perspective 3D view.

8. End of exercise.

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