Building Material Classification and Properties

Options > Element Attributes > Building Materials

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ID and Categories

ID: Assign an optional ID to this Building Material. Any character can be used, with no character number limit.

The ID field serves as a way to identify Building Materials in lists and labels. You can also Find & Select elements by using Building Material ID as a search criterion.

Manufacturer: Optionally, enter a manufacturer name for this Building Material. You can add Manufacturer as a field to your Interactive Schedule, e.g. to list all Building Materials by manufacturer.

Description: Optionally, enter a Description for this Building Material. You can add Description as a field to your Interactive Schedule.

Participates in Collision Detection: This data is used in exporting elements to IFC format, and in Archicad’s Collision Detection feature. See Collision Detection.

Physical Properties

These data are predefined for Archicad Building Materials, but you can edit them directly, or load the values via a material from the catalog.

Physical property

Unit

Thermal conductivity

W/mK

Density

lb/cu ft (imperial)

kg/m3 (metric)

Heat capacity

J/kgK

Embodied Energy

lbCO2/lb (imperial)

kgCO2/kg (metric)

Embodied Carbon

MJ/kg

Note: Set Volume unit at Project Preferences > Calculation Units.

Load from Catalog: Access the built-in Material Catalog (click the Open Catalog button), and click the name of a material having the characteristics you need; its physical properties will then be applied to the Building Material you are editing.

For more information, see Material Catalog.

Environmental Properties

Certain Archicad templates include this set of Building Material properties, corresponding to standard environmental indicators.

See Environmental Properties.

See also Properties and Classification Systems.