About Columns

In Buildings and Civil Structures Design, columns are attached to grid segments.

Buildings and Civil Structures Design has two types of columns:

• Cast columns - These are the columns cast specifically for the building project. They include cast concrete columns. Another use for cast columns is to create piers. To create this variation, you place the columns on the footings and make them only in the foundation level.
• Catalog columns - These are the columns that you select from a catalog of commercially available member shapes. They include steel columns.

For columns, you have the option to add to the building project a custom design cross section. The cross section is based on sketch that you create. Use the:

• Cast Column for custom designed columns made from materials such as concrete.
• Catalog Column for custom designed columns made from materials such as steel.

Before you begin to add columns, you must have a structural grid, which generates the grid segments. Cast columns require a building grid as the structural grid. With catalog columns, you can use either a building grid or a reference plane grid.

Once you place cast or catalog columns on the structural grid, the system automatically updates member locations whenever someone revises the structural grid.