Columns in Revit come in two kinds that share one button, and picking the wrong one puts the document set on the wrong footing from the start. Beginners trip here because the two names look alike while the behaviour does not.
This article runs from telling them apart through to getting beams into an architectural set. To learn modelling and documentation end to end, see the Revit Architecture course.
The two kinds of column, and which one architects use
Click the arrow under Column on the Architecture tab and the menu offers exactly two items.
| Item | What it is |
|---|---|
| Structural Column | A load-bearing column. It joins the analytical model and belongs to the structural team |
| Column: Architectural | An architectural column, used to box out structural columns, to form wall piers, or for decoration |
Architects use the second. An architectural column carries no load, yet it takes finish materials, merges with walls, and appears in architectural schedules.
Real load-bearing columns are the structural team's work. The architect's job is to box them out, or to receive the structural model through a linked file.
A Revit architectural column merges into the wall
This is the most visible difference, and the main reason to choose the architectural kind.
When an architectural column sits in the same place as a wall, Revit joins the two in plan and no dividing line remains. A structural column does not: it keeps its own outline, so the architectural plan looks as though it carries a stray line.
Wall piers, column box-outs and local thickenings of a wall therefore belong to architectural columns. On a printed drawing they read as one solid mass with the wall, exactly as they are built.
The cut pattern follows the wall as well. Autodesk describes this on Cut Patterns for Engaged Columns: a column joined to a wall takes the wall's coarse-scale fill, so the two print as one.
Placing a column: Load Family and three boxes to set first
Run Column: Architectural and the ribbon changes to a contextual bar with three things worth noting.
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Load Family | Loads another column family. The Metric template ships only a rectangular column |
| 2 | Rotate After Placement | Tick it and Revit lets you rotate with the mouse straight after the click |
| 3 | Height or Depth and the level | The column runs up or down from the current level, as far as the level chosen alongside |
The third box has to be set before you click. Height grows the column up to the level named beside it; Depth runs it downward. It can be changed afterwards, but setting it first avoids editing in bulk later.
The Load Family dialog and where to find component libraries are covered in how to place doors in Revit, because both tools share that dialog.
Column type properties: duplicate the type and change two numbers
The shipped library has no sections matching local practice. The fix is not to hunt for another family, but to duplicate the type and change two numbers.
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dimensions | Depth and Width are the two sides of the section. Offset Base and Offset Top raise or lower the foot and head against the level |
For a 220 by 220 column, duplicate the type and type 220 into both Depth and Width. The Duplicate sequence and the naming convention are the same as for doors, linked above.
Three more fields in the same dialog deserve attention. Material defaults to By Category, meaning the column has no material of its own and will not take its own row in a material takeoff. Coarse Scale Fill Pattern and Coarse Scale Fill Color decide how the column is filled when the plan is set to a coarse detail level.
Moves With Grids: columns that follow the grid
Place columns by clicking grid intersections. Revit snaps to the intersection and the column picks up the Moves With Grids parameter.
That parameter means the column travels when the grid moves. It is a large difference from walls, which have no such parameter: move a grid and the wall stays where it was, waiting to be dragged.
The practical value is real. While the grid is still being adjusted, the columns follow it and nothing has to be rebuilt. Drawing and editing grids is covered in grids and levels in Revit.
Boxing out a structural column, and attaching a column to a roof
A box-out should be an architectural column whose section is larger than the structural one by exactly twice the cladding thickness. A 200 structural column with 20 of cladding calls for a 240 architectural column.
Sizing it by that rule carries a benefit few people notice: when the structural team changes the column section, only one architectural column type needs editing, not every column.
One more thing that people assume Revit does by itself: a column does not attach to roofs, floors, ceilings or foundations. To make the head follow a sloping roof, select the column and use Attach Top/Base, described on Autodesk's Attach a Column. Skip it and the column cuts straight through the roof, a fault that only shows up in section.
Revit beams: why they do not appear on an architectural plan
Architectural drawings rarely show beams, except in three cases: a section through the beam, a reflected ceiling plan with an exposed beam, and a detail where the beam governs clear height. Architects therefore need to read beams more than to model them.
The beam tool sits on the Structure tab, not on Architecture. In the 2027 release that tab has seven panels.
| Panel | What it does |
|---|---|
| Mode | Load Family, to load a different beam family |
| Draw | Draw beams as lines or arcs, or pick existing lines. Chain draws a run |
| Multiple | On Grids: select a set of grids and Revit places beams along them |
| Tag | Tag on Placement labels each beam as it is placed |
| Positioning | 3D Snapping allows snapping to elements at other levels while working in a 3D view |
The Metric template loads exactly one beam family, the steel M_C Shapes C150X15.6 in Steel ASTM A992. Reinforced concrete beams, as used locally, need a different family.
Place a beam in a floor plan and Revit usually reports that the new element is not visible in the view. The cause lies in the view range, and it is often explained wrongly.
A beam hangs below the level it is placed on, which puts it lower than the bottom of the view range. Elements between the cut plane and the bottom are still drawn, with thin lines, so "below the cut plane" is not the reason. What vanishes is an element above the cut plane, or below the bottom.
To see the beam, drop Bottom or View Depth below the level. Autodesk states the same on About Placing Beams: set the bottom clip plane below the current level, or the beam will not be visible. Those four planes are covered in hiding and showing elements in Revit.
The tidiest route in practice is to let the structural team model the beams, then link their file into the architectural model. Architectural sections then show the beams in the right place with nothing to rebuild.
Try it: a grid of architectural columns for the villa
A twenty-minute exercise. It runs through columns in Revit end to end, on a model that already has walls and grids.
- Duplicate the M_Rectangular Column type as
220 x 220mm, setting Depth and Width to 220. - Run Column: Architectural. Set Height up to the level above.
- Click grid intersections along the perimeter walls. Watch the snap indicator at each intersection.
- Select one column, read the Moves With Grids parameter in Properties and note it.
- Move one grid by 200 and check whether the column follows. Undo afterwards.
- Duplicate a
340 x 340mmtype and place it over a 220 column as a box-out. - Look at the plan and see how the two columns and the wall merge, with no dividing line.
- Open a 3D view, set the display style to Shaded, check the whole set of columns and save.
Step 5 is the one worth doing properly: it shows on screen what the Properties palette only states in a single line of text.
Frequently asked questions
Architectural or structural column — which should I use?
Architects use architectural columns, because they merge into walls and take finish materials. Load-bearing columns belong to the structural team, with an architectural column boxed around them.
Why does my column still show a line against the wall?
Almost certainly it is a structural column. Structural columns do not join walls, even when placed in the same position.
Revit says my new beam is not visible in the view. What now?
The beam sits lower than the bottom of the plan's view range. Drop Bottom or View Depth below the level, or open a structural plan instead.
How do I make a column follow a sloping roof?
Select the column, use Attach Top/Base and pick the roof. Columns do not attach to roofs, floors or ceilings on their own.
Related articles
- How to place doors in Revit — the Load Family dialog and type duplication, shared with columns
- Grids and levels in Revit — the setting-out system columns follow
- Hiding and showing elements in Revit — the four planes of the view range
- How to draw walls in Revit — layer structure and how walls join columns