Current "Best Practice" for multi-story columns?

[techdef]

Got an 8-story apartment building over 2 basements. Will be 3 stories concrete with wood frame above. Critical that the columns align between the concrete levels... My preference is to move columns once, rather than on each floor.  Kind of wish there was a baked-in way to make multi-story elements like this... 

 

Some options:

1. Make a Column Design Layer and put them there, that layer stays on a lot. It has very high walls. Annoying if floor to floor heights change, which they will.
2. Put column on Struct Column Classes, from FF to underside of slab above, make a symbol and plop the symbol on each floor layer? Probably less annoying.
3. ??

[shorter]

Even if there was a way to model one column over multiple floors like revit you would still have to be able to export it as IFC as separate floors.  Most BEPs request this.  We do because it's what Revit does!

 

If the symbols are exactly the same height, then the symbol route is definitely a good idea.

 

You could control all columns via a worksheet and let storeys do the work vertically, something that's a problem with symbols.

 

You could manage repetition of the entire floor of columns using a viewport.

 

You can actually link symbols vertically using constraints but I am not sure I would rely on it.  We use constraints in 2D to link a symbol of a soil pipe on multiple floors.  Move it on the ground and they move all the way up the building.

[techdef]

Steven,

 

Thanks, a few new ideas there to test out. Hadn't thought of VPs or worksheets...