Using Curtain Walls in Your Buildings Design
If you pay attention to the architecture of the buildings around you you’ll notice quite a variety of designs. Some are older buildings with simple designs, made specifically with the use of the building in mind. Others are more innovative, cutting edge, and fresh. The architects to these buildings had more than just use in mind. They combined functionality with art to create these cutting edge designs. One of the techniques used to add interesting design to a building is to use a curtain wall design.
A curtain wall is basically an architectural element on a building that is there strictly for design purposes. Generally it doesn’t add any support to the building. It simply makes it more interesting. When curtain walls first became a design element they were made out of steel and glass. Today most of them are made from aluminum and glass. They add to the look of the building, and they allow for plenty of sunlight to stream through.
Curtain walls must be created through curtain wall engineering because there are a few things that must be taken into consideration when designing this wall above and beyond the actual design. These things include water diversion, thermal efficiency, cooling, lighting, building sway, and thermal expansion. Most of these walls span more than one floor so it’s imperative that they are engineered correctly.
With a decent engineer and architect you can use a curtain wall to give your building the modern, cutting edge design that it needs.