Creating Consistent View Templates for Area Plans in Revit

Let's establish a robust Level 1 Gross Area Plan as the foundation for our view template. This systematic approach will ensure consistency across all area plans in your project. The first step involves eliminating visual clutter by hiding unnecessary elements that don't contribute to area calculations or presentation clarity.

Begin by hiding grids through the "Hide in view by category" function, as these reference lines serve no purpose in area documentation. Similarly, hide section lines by category to create a clean, focused presentation. This selective visibility approach is fundamental to professional area plan documentation, as it directs attention to the spatial information that matters most to stakeholders.

To maintain consistency across multiple levels, leverage the scope box already established for your project. Setting this as the scope box for the view automatically pulls in the crop region, creating uniform boundaries between Level 1 and Level 2 plans. This standardization is crucial for professional deliverables, as it demonstrates attention to detail and ensures that all area plans follow the same visual hierarchy and spatial limits.

With the crop region standardized, return to the Level 1 plan to configure the remaining settings before creating the view template. The color scheme configuration is your next critical step. Navigate to the color scheme settings and click "Edit" where it displays "None." You'll find pre-existing color schemes available for immediate use.

This direct editing method offers the same functionality as accessing color schemes through the View tab, but with more immediate visual feedback. The default Gross Building Area color may not align with your firm's standards or project requirements. Consider selecting colors that provide sufficient contrast for both digital viewing and print reproduction—blue-green tones often work well as they're easily distinguishable while remaining professional. Remember that color choices should serve both aesthetic and functional purposes, particularly when these plans will be reviewed by multiple stakeholders with varying levels of technical expertise.

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Once you've confirmed your color selection, focus on enhancing the visibility of area boundary lines. These lines are critical for clearly communicating the exact limits of area calculations, and their prominence can significantly impact plan readability. The most effective approach is to adjust these boundaries through visibility/graphic overrides rather than global settings.

Navigate to the Lines section and expand it to locate the area boundary lines. Here you can override the line style while maintaining flexibility for future adjustments. Before making changes, examine the current settings in Object Styles to understand the baseline configuration. Access this through the Manage tab, Additional Settings, then Line Styles. The area boundary line settings you see here represent the global default that affects all views.

Consider whether you need global consistency or view-specific flexibility. Making changes at the global level (through Line Styles) will affect every view in your project—ideal for firm-wide standards. However, if you need most views to follow standard formatting with occasional exceptions, use visibility/graphic overrides instead. This approach provides the granular control that complex projects often require.

For enhanced visibility, consider increasing the line weight to 6 or 8, depending on your plotting standards and the complexity of the space. Color adjustments should provide clear contrast against both the background and color fills—a blue tone often works effectively against green area fills. Pattern modifications, such as dashed lines, can further distinguish boundary lines from other plan elements, though this should align with your firm's drafting standards and client expectations.

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After establishing all visual settings, create your view template through the View tab: View Templates > Create Template from Current View. Name it descriptively (such as "Gross Area") to ensure easy identification by team members. Apply this template to both Level 1 and Level 2 plans immediately to ensure consistency. More importantly, set this template in the type properties for Gross Area views, which will automatically apply these standards to any new Gross Area Plan views created in the future—a time-saving measure that maintains project consistency as your model evolves.

When reviewing Level 2, you'll notice the template settings have been applied uniformly. Pay particular attention to large white spaces that aren't identified as area—these typically represent open areas or atriums that require specific graphic treatment to communicate their spatial relationship clearly. Transfer any existing graphics from your Level 2 plan using Copy to Clipboard, then paste to the current Area Plan view to maintain visual continuity across plan types.

A critical refinement involves adjusting the color fill location setting. By default, color fills are set to background, which can obscure important structural elements like columns and stairs. This background setting makes it appear that area calculations don't extend to exterior wall faces, potentially confusing stakeholders about the actual calculation methodology.

Access your Gross Area view template settings and locate the Color Scheme Location parameter. Change this from "Background" to "Foreground" to pull the color fill to the front layer. This adjustment ensures that boundary lines remain clearly visible while the color fill extends to its proper limits, providing an accurate visual representation of how areas are being calculated. This foreground setting is particularly important when these plans will be used for lease documentation, code compliance reviews, or client presentations where calculation accuracy must be immediately apparent. Save these settings to lock in your professional area plan template, which will serve as the foundation for sheet placement and schedule setup in subsequent project phases.

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