Curtain - Window Walls

A curtain wall system is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, utilized to keep the weather out and the occupants in. Since curtain walls are non-structural, they're made of lightweight materials, thereby reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, an advantage is that natural light can penetrate deeper within the building. The curtain wall fa??ade does not carry any structural load from the building other than its own dead load ...

A curtain wall system is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, utilized to keep the weather out and the occupants in. Since curtain walls are non-structural, they're made of lightweight materials, thereby reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, an advantage is that natural light can penetrate deeper within the building. The curtain wall fa??ade 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 dead load weight forces. 

Curtain wall systems are typically designed with extruded aluminum framing members, at Sunset we design and manufacture them in house. The aluminum frame is typically infilled with glass, which provides an architecturally pleasing building, as well as benefits such as daylighting.

Curtain walls differ from storefront systems in that they are designed to span multiple floors, taking into consideration design requirements such as thermal expansions and contractions; building sways and movements; water diversions and thermal efficiencies for cost-effective heating, cooling, and lighting in the building.

Depending on the architectural design we use different curtain wall systems and details, even manufacture custom pieces and mullions to accomodate and match all design criteria.

We can also do value engineering on your existing design and may come up with ideas which will bring substantial savings to your projects.

Facade Systems
Cladding Systems
Skylight
Sun Shade and Decorative Applications