What to Do with All the Orphaned Revit MEP Elements

March 3, 2023 Cherisse Biddulph

There is nothing more frustrating than opening your Revit MEP project to find your hosted elements have become disassociated or orphaned from the architectural Revit linked model. There are several reasons why your Revit hosted elements can become orphaned, the main one being an update with the linked architectural model’s ceilings. Instead of selecting each element one by one and rehosting them, you can remedy this issue from the start of your project or mid project development. 

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  1. In your MEP model, go to an elevation or section view. I prefer a section view because I can see the architectural elements. Add a level datum at the height of the architectural model’s ceiling. Give the level a name that you will know is yours and what it is referring to. 

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2. Open a view that displays the orphaned elements and select all of them. It may be necessary to open a ceiling view to perform the next tasks. From the contextual tab>Work Plane panel, expand Edit Work Plane and select Edit Work Plane

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3. In the Work Plane dialog box, from the Name drop-down list, select the level you created in the elevation or section view and click OK

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4. Your elements are no longer orphaned. When the architect makes changes to the ceiling, you can adjust this MEP level accordingly.