Curtain wall systems are non-structural cladding systems for the external walls of buildings. They are generally associated with large, multistory buildings.
Curtain walls are used primarily in tall office buildings, as well as in multifamily and institutional buildings. Yet they are also found in houses, primarily modern ones of at least two floors.
One of the main characteristics of curtain walls is transparency, which some people desire and others find to be creating the feel of living in a fishbowl. Regardless of photos like these, just about all buildings with curtain walls have blinds, curtains or other shading elements to cut down on solar heat gain and maintain privacy.
Unitized curtain walls entail factory fabrication and assembly of panels and may include factory glazing. These completed units are installed on the building structure to form the building enclosure. Unitized curtain wall has the advantages of: speed; lower field installation costs; and quality control within an interior climate-controlled environment. The economic benefits are typically realized on large projects or in areas of high field labor rates.
What are the different types of curtain walls?
Curtain walls are usually classified as unitized or stick systems (AKA modular curtain walls). These categories refer to the different manufacturing and installation methods used.
/Stick Curtain Wall
The curtain wall frame (mullions) and vision glass panels of a stick system are installed one piece at a time, which allows for adjustments to be made on site.
/ Unitized Curtain Wall
For unitized systems, a single unit or several large units are made and assembled in the factory before being sent to the building site where they are installed. This helps save on installation costs and time.The size of a single unit is typically the distance of one story from floor to floor of the building.
/ Curtain Wall Point Fixing
Face-sealed
Water-managed
Pressure-equalized
What Are Curtain Walls Used For?
Designed to protect the building from the outside elements (such as weather), curtain walls are panels that are placed at the exterior of the building, often through mechanical bonding, chemical bonding, or adhesive.
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, utilized only to keep the weather out and the occupants in. Since the curtain wall is non-structural, it can be made of lightweight materials, such as glass, thereby potentially reducing construction costs. An additional advantage of glass is that natural light can penetrate deeper within the building. The curtain wall facade does not carry any structural load from the building other than its own dead load weight. The wall transfers lateral wind loads that are incident upon it to the main building structure through connections at floors or columns of the building. A curtain wall is designed to resist air and water infiltration, absorb sway induced by wind and seismic forces acting on the building, withstand wind loads, and support its own weight.
Curtain walls are a fairly common and prominent feature in modern buildings.
Difference Between A Window Wall And A Curtain Wall
Generally speaking, curtain wall attaches to the outside of the floor slabs, acting as a “curtain” that is literally hung on the building and therefore, non-load bearing. It spans slab to slab, and systems are most often constructed in one of two ways; stick-built or paneled. With stick-built curtain wall, components are sent directly to the job site, where they are assembled in the field before they can be installed.
Unlike curtain wall, window wall sits between the floor slabs. Like unitized curtain wall, window wall is also built in a shop and shipped to the site pre-assembled. Units are anchored at the head and sill and sealed in place using caulking. Window wall is also non-load bearing. Since window wall sits between floor slabs, fire-stopping is not necessary. This also means noise transmittance can be less of a concern than with a curtain wall in specific instances.
Advantages Of Curtain Wall
Keep out the weather
First and foremost, curtain wall systems offer excellent weather protection. This not only improves the performance of the building but will increase its durability as well.
Resist water penetration
Curtain walls are designed to prevent water from penetrating the system and to keep the interior of the building dry.
Reduce building sway
Curtain walls are specially designed to disperse stress from sources such as high winds, improving the overall steadiness of the building.
Increase energy efficiency
By using glass that is treated and glazed properly, curtain wall systems can reduce the amount of heat lost or gained by a building. Better thermal efficiency can lead to reduced energy consumption in the building.
Improve fire resistance
Curtain wall systems can help slow down the spread of fire by acting as a barrier and compartmentalizing a building. The specialized fire-resistant glass will help protect occupants and the building itself.
Elevate building appearance
Glass curtain walls can create a classy appearance for both high-rise buildings and low-rise buildings.
Superior visuals
The large glass panels of a curtain wall improve visibility and increase natural light, making the interior of the buildings better too.
Versatile design options
Curtain wall systems can be designed and manufactured to a wide range of specifications to suit the specific aesthetic and practical needs of a project.
How To Install Curtain Wall?
Due to the many diverse elevational layouts and variations within curtain wall installations, it is not considered practical to structurally classify the large variety of curtain wall systems and purpose-designed constructions.
INSTALLATION
Unitized curtain walling can be installed either from the interior of the building using a beam on the floor above, or from the outside using a crane. The installation team must be safely connected to the structure via a harness.
The modules are transported to each floor level, lifted to the correct position and installed onto each floor slab. This involves hooking them onto brackets which are secured to the main substrate and levelled using jacking bolts.
Our Cases
This project named Double Tree Hotel; main product we provided is Aluminum Unit-type Glass Curtain Wall, which belongs to Hilton Hotel, located in Australia.
When we started to the whole project, we have professional engineer come to Australia site to check the size,
design and made one sample which have been sent to Singapore to do test.
After passed the sample test, we started to make the whole project.
★The aluminum composite panel(acp panels) is made up of multi-layer materials. The upper and lower layers are high-purity aluminum alloy plates, with a non-toxic low-density polyethylene (PE) core plate in the middle, and a protective film is attached to the front surface. ★ We manufacture, supply & install a wide range of curtain wall to meet the unique requirements of each residential/commercial project. ★ The aluminum curtain wall installation is convenient and quick to construct. The aluminum plate is formed at the factory, and the construction site does not need to be cut and only needs to be fixed. ★ The outer surface is long-lasting, processing, transportation, installation and construction are relatively easy to implement, providing strong support for its wide use, color diversity and can be combined into different appearance shapes, expanding the designer's design space.
★The Curtain Wall System is widely being installed commercially, and it’s one of the most noticeable features in modern architectural designs. Most business owners are choosing Curtain Wall Systems due to the plethora of commercial gains it provides them. ★ We manufacture, supply & install a wide range of curtain wall to meet the unique requirements of each residential/commercial project. ★ The curtain walls protect against any sort of extreme weather conditions such as high precipitation in the form of rainfall or snowfall. ★ The outer surface is long-lasting, processing, transportation, installation and construction are relatively easy to implement, providing strong support for its wide use, color diversity and can be combined into different appearance shapes, expanding the designer's design space.
★The Curtain Wall System is widely being installed commercially, and it’s one of the most noticeable features in modern architectural designs. Most business owners are choosing Curtain Wall Systems due to the plethora of commercial gains it provides them. ★ We manufacture, supply & install a wide range of curtain wall to meet the unique requirements of each residential/commercial project. ★ The curtain walls protect against any sort of extreme weather conditions such as high precipitation in the form of rainfall or snowfall. ★ The outer surface is long-lasting, processing, transportation, installation and construction are relatively easy to implement, providing strong support for its wide use, color diversity and can be combined into different appearance shapes, expanding the designer's design space.
