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How to Create Brick Screen in Revit: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Introduction: Why Brick Screens in Revit?

Brick screens, also called jaali walls or lattice walls, are an architectural feature that balances function and beauty. They allow ventilation, filter sunlight, and add intricate textures to buildings. You’ve probably seen them in traditional homes, modern offices, and cultural buildings where airflow and shading are just as important as design.

In Revit, modeling a brick screen can seem intimidating at first. Many beginners wonder: should they use the wall tool, or is there a smarter method? The answer lies in curtain walls and custom panels. With this workflow, you can create reusable, flexible brick screen families that look realistic in both 2D drawings and 3D renders.

In this blog, we’ll walk step by step through creating a brick screen in Revit. You’ll learn to make custom brick panels, assign materials, apply them to curtain walls, and fix common mistakes along the way. By the end, you’ll have a method you can apply to any project, whether academic or professional.

Step 1: Introduction to Curtain Walls in Revit

To create a brick screen, the first tool you need to understand is the curtain wall system.

Curtain walls in Revit are not just for glass façades. They are flexible systems made of panels and grids. You can replace those panels with custom families—like a two-brick segment—to form a repeating screen. This method saves time because instead of modeling every brick, you design one segment and let Revit multiply it across the wall.

Here’s why curtain walls are the best choice for brick screens:

They allow precise control of spacing (horizontal and vertical).
You can easily swap panels without re-drawing the wall.
They adapt well to both 2D documentation and 3D visualization.

So before building bricks, we first prepare a curtain wall base that will host our custom panels.

Step 2: Building the Two-Brick Segment

A brick screen is nothing more than repeating units. To make it realistic, we’ll create a two-brick panel that repeats across the wall.

Open the Family Editor → choose Curtain Wall Panel as your template.
Switch to Elevation View to sketch accurately.
Add Reference Planes to define panel boundaries.
Set the total height to 120 mm (two bricks stacked, each 60 mm).
Create Brick 1: draw a rectangle (250 mm length, 60 mm height).
Create Brick 2: overlap it within the 120 mm height, half shifted.
Set Extrusion Thickness to match standard brick depth (usually 115 mm).

Don’t forget to lock dimensions with constraints. This ensures your bricks don’t distort when the panel repeats in the curtain wall system.

Step 3: Assigning Materials to the Brick Segment

A model isn’t complete until it looks realistic. That’s where materials come in.

Select the brick geometry in the Family Editor.
In the Properties palette, go to Materials and Finishes.
Open Material Browser.
Search for Exposed Masonry – Brick.
Duplicate and rename it to “Brick Screen Material.”
Adjust the Graphics tab: remove relief pattern for clean 2D representation.
Under Appearance tab, add a brick texture or color image that matches your design intent.

Pro tip: Always check your material in both Hidden Line View and Render View. A material might look fine in one but wrong in the other.

Once finished, save the family as “Two Brick Panel” and load it back into your project.

Step 4: Building the Brick Screen Wall

Now comes the exciting part—assembling the screen.

Create a new Wall → choose Exterior Glazing Wall type.
Go to Edit Type settings.
Under Curtain Panel, replace the default with Two Brick Panel.
Set Vertical Grid = Maximum Spacing (380 mm typical).
Set Horizontal Grid = Fixed Distance (120 mm).
Apply and watch as Revit fills the wall with your repeating two-brick panels.

Your wall now looks like a patterned brick screen instead of plain glazing. Adjust spacing to control openness—the wider the grid, the more light and air pass through.

Case example of Brick screen wall in Revit

Introduction to curtain walls
Building the 2 Brick Segment
Assigning Material two the Brick Segment
Building the Brick Screen Wall
Fixing Common Issues

1. Curtain Wall Panel
This type of panel is incorporated in the curtain wall because
Curtain wall has the ability to use different panels .

Create Metric Curtain Wall Panel
Curtain walls are made out of panels.
Open new family – Curtain wall panel.

2. Building the 2 Brick Segment

Modelling Bricks

Go to exterior elevation

Add a additional reference plane in the mid of the elevation and make equal.

Alter the height of the reference as 120mm which is the height of two bricks (60mm+60mm).

Create brick-1 profile using File- Extrusion

Rectangle

Assign dimension for the brick and make it equal.

Brick length is 250mm and from mid of brick assign 125mm.

Create another brick with in the height of 120mm in an overlapping manner as shown in the figure.

Lock the dimensions of 125mm and 60mm for two bricks created

Assign Extrusion End =60mm and Extrusion Start = -60mm for both brick extrusion created

Elevation view changing height to 120mm Adding reference and making equal

Create - Solid extrusion -rectangle

Assign height and width and lock it Set End and Start Extrusion

Two brick panel created

3. Assigning Material

Under Material and finish – open the Material browser

Select the Exposed masonry.

Some alterations are done to remove the entire course of brick as we are going to apply only for two bricks.

Under Graphics note down the color of the material.

Under Appearance uncheck the relief pattern.

Under Appearance in the Image drop down box select color and enter the color noted down previously.

Select Exposed Masonry - note down the color
Uncheck Relief pattern

Under Image select color, Enter the color number

Save the Family with a name (Two brick panel)

Load into the project.

4. Creating Brick Screen wall

Create a Exterior glazing wall with certain height

Under Edit type of that particular wall Assign the following:

Curtain panel : Two Brick panel (Family which is saved and loaded into the project)
Vertical Grid:

Layout : Maximum spacing
Spacing : 380 (can be altered based on view)

Horizontal Grid:

Layout : Fixed distance
Spacing : 120 (Height of two brick it should not be altered)

Creating External glazing

Edit type Inputs

5.Fixing Common Issues

Fix the one Brick layer problem on top.

Select one right click

Select panel- Along Horizontal grid

Un pin them

Delete by choosing Properties as

System panel - empty

Selction of top layer of brick which is not aligned

Unpin it

Select Empty

Final screen wall playing with horizontal spacing

Step 5: Fixing Common Issues with Brick Screens

No workflow is perfect. Let’s solve the most common problems:

Problem 1: Extra one-brick row at the top.
Solution: Right-click on the misaligned panel, select Unpin, and replace with “System Panel – Empty.”

Problem 2: Bricks not aligning at corners.
Solution: Use curtain wall joins or adjust grid spacing until corners match.

Problem 3: Material not rendering correctly.
Solution: Double-check appearance settings in the Material Browser. Ensure the image texture has the right scale.

Fixing these issues early will save you frustration when preparing sheets or rendering visuals.

Step 6: Best Practices for Creating Brick Screens in Revit

Here are a few rules to make your workflow professional:

Use realistic brick dimensions. Standard: 250 × 120 × 60 mm.
Plan spacing carefully. Consistency is key for neat designs.
Save custom families. Reuse them in future projects to save time.
Test in render engines. Export to Enscape, Twinmotion, or Lumion for quality checks.
Coordinate with structure. Ensure your screen aligns with columns or beams.

Step 7: Common Mistakes to Avoid

Beginners often struggle with:

Forgetting to constrain reference planes, causing distorted bricks.
Using wall tool instead of curtain wall, which reduces flexibility.
Overloading the model with too much detail—slows down performance.
Ignoring material scale, leading to unrealistic brick patterns.

By avoiding these mistakes, your workflow becomes faster and cleaner.

FAQs on Creating Brick Screens in Revit

Can I use a wall tool instead of curtain walls?
Yes, but curtain walls give better control with grids and panels.

Can I adjust spacing later?
Absolutely. Edit Type settings let you change both vertical and horizontal spacing anytime.

Will this work with curved walls?
Yes, curtain walls can follow curves, but check brick alignment carefully.

What’s the easiest way to fix misaligned panels?
Unpin the problem panel and replace it with an empty system panel.

Conclusion: A Simple Workflow for Complex Design

Brick screens may look intricate, but in Revit they can be modeled with a simple, repeatable method. By combining curtain walls, custom two-brick panels, and material assignments, you can build accurate and realistic brick screens without overloading your project.

Whether you’re a student learning architectural design or a professional preparing construction documents, this workflow gives you flexibility and speed. Next time you need a façade element that blends tradition with modernity, try creating a brick screen in Revit—you’ll be surprised how effective it is.