After finishing the RC columns, walls, and slabs, we can move on to place the doors and windows. Since all the doors and windows are hosted by walls, we shall first construct the walls between the beams and the columns, then we can place doors and windows on them. Before we place the doors and the windows, we should confirm that we have selected correct types and sizes for them according to their dimension table in the CAD file. Although there is no specific rule or sequence for placing doors and windows, we still suggest placing them in a systematic way. For example, we can focus on a single category at a time and place all the doors before the windows. It can help you save time on switching the categories between doors and windows. In this demonstration, we place door components first. Because all of the door and window types needed have been well defined in the template, we can apply them directly. Let us start by placing the doors. Open the floor plan view of B1F, and switch “View Template” to “Architectural Plan.” In the “Architecture” tab, select the “Door” tool. In the drawing area, from the upper left of the underlay, we can see the door is denoted as D2. According to the dimension table, the size of this door is 120 x 210 cm. In the “Properties” palette, select the type “D2, D3, Fire-proof 120 x 210 cm.” Place the door on the target wall, and then use the “Align” tool to adjust it to the right position. The “Align” tool requires two clicks. The first click should be on the reference line on the underlay that we want the door component to be aligned with. The second click should be on the corresponding edge of the component for alignment. In addition to the location, we should also confirm if the direction of the door is correct. If not, we can use the double arrows aside the door to reverse the direction of the door. The openings of elevators can be implemented by door components. Therefore, when we construct the walls of an elevator shaft, we don’t need to edit the wall profile to create the opening. Instead, we place the door component as an opening to the elevator shaft later. In the next step, we are going to place the windows for B1F. Take the window “W12” for example, we can get started by selecting the “Window” tool in the “Architecture” tab. In the “Properties” palette, select “W12: Aluminum Shutter 60 x 190 cm”. Next, let us double check if the value of the “Sill Height” is 30 cm, which is specified in the window’s dimension table. Place the window on the target wall, and then use the “Align” tool to adjust it to the right position. Remember to confirm if the direction of the window is correct. Follow the above procedure to place all doors and windows in both B1F and 1F. At any time, we can go to 3D View and use the “Section Box” tool to examine the doors and the windows already placed inside the building.
