Add a building pad to a toposurface to establish a position for the building.
This video demonstrates the following:
In Revit, you can place a pad element on a toposurface to establish a position for your building model. Although pads are primarily used for below-grade conditions, the toposurface will be cut out or built up as necessary to accommodate your pad placement.
To create a pad element, click the Massing and Site tab, and select the Building Pad tool. Building pads are sketch-based elements, so Revit switches to sketch mode.
Select a sketching tool from the Draw panel to create your sketch. In this case, the Pick Lines tool will be used to pick lines from a DWG underlay that shows the building footprint.
Lines in a building pad sketch must form a closed loop. Here, however, the sketch resulting from the picked lines includes a smaller closed loop where a pavilion will extend into the courtyard area of the building.
To include this extension in the building pad, use the Split and Trim tools on the Modify panel to edit the sketch so that a single closed loop is formed. After the modifications are complete, click Finish.
On the Properties palette, you can change the level the pad is associated with, as well as its offset from that level. If the pad is positioned below grade—for example, to accommodate a basement condition—the toposurface will be cut by the pad.
Use a building pad element to establish the position of your design on a toposurface when your design requires the toposurface to be modified.