Creating Curtain Walls

In the Vectorworks Design Series products, the capabilities of the Wall and Round Wall tools are expanded to create curtain walls. Curtain walls consist of frames that contain panels; often, the panels are made of glass, but they can also be opaque or decorative. The Vectorworks program models the frames, panels, and connections according to real-world architectural standards. Since the curtain wall is based on the Wall tool, it can take advantage of all the benefits of the Wall tool, such as resizing, editing, joining, using walls as the basis of slabs and spaces, bounding by story level, inserting plug-in objects, and more. Energy-related information specified for curtain walls is considered when conducting an energy analysis (Vectorworks Architect required). Doors and windows have special capabilities when they are inserted within curtain walls so that all the design elements work together.

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To create straight curtain walls:

To create round curtain walls:

1. Select the Wall or Round Wall tool from the appropriate tool set:

●    Fundamentals workspace: Walls tool set

●    Design Series workspaces: Building Shell tool set

2. Click the desired offset mode (see Creating Walls).

3. Select the desired wall style from the Wall Style list on the Tool bar. To draw an unstyled wall, select <Unstyled> from the Current Document file on the list. If the desired wall style has already been created, select it from the Tool bar list or double-click the resource in the Resource Browser and proceed to Step 6. Curtain walls have specific wall styles; the default styles begin with the prefix CW for easy identification.

On the Wall Style list, the files and folders available in the current document, in other open documents, and in the libraries are listed on the left. Select a file to display thumbnails of the wall styles available in that location, and select the desired style.

4. Click Preferences from the Tool bar.

The Wall Preferences dialog box opens. This dialog box can be accessed any time afterward to modify default wall settings.

Curtain walls consist of a repeating grid of frames and panels. Specify the number of horizontal and vertical frames that make up one section of the curtain wall, and then specify the appearance of the frames and the panels within that grid. The defined section is repeated over the length and height of the wall.

Unstyled curtain walls can be drawn first, and the curtain wall parameters can be set later from the Object Info palette by clicking Curtain Wall Grid. The Curtain Wall Grid dialog box opens, to edit the parameters of the unstyled curtain wall. However, editing unstyled walls by this method may clear existing frames and panels, and recreate the curtain wall grid.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Wall Style	Select a wall style for the wall; see Using Wall Styles. Alternatively, select <Unstyled> to create the curtain wall without linking the parameters to a wall style. If a selected wall style's parameters are edited in the Wall Preferences dialog box, the wall style automatically changes to unstyled, indicating that the edited style must be saved as a new style to save changes (alternatively, the changes can be applied as an unstyled wall, and they are not saved).
Save Preferences as Wall Style	Saves the current preference settings as a new wall style. The Assign Name dialog box opens; enter a wall style name and click OK (see Creating Wall Styles).
Wall Type	Select whether to create a standard wall or a curtain wall. Curtain walls are described in this section. Standard walls are described in Creating Walls.
IFC	Assigns or edits IFC data; see Viewing and Editing IFC Data
Definition
Grid Preview	Displays a preview of the grid structure; the preview wall is drawn in a Front view
Vertical/Horizontal Gridlines	In the vertical and horizontal direction, add gridlines to the grid by clicking Add and entering the spacing distance. To change the grid order, use the cursor to drag and drop the items in the # column. Remove a selected gridline by clicking Delete. The preview area displays the horizontal and vertical gridlines.
Spacing	Sets the distance from the selected gridline to the next gridline; select a gridline to change its value
Add	Adds a horizontal or vertical gridline to the curtain wall frame; by default, the currently selected spacing value is used for the new gridline
Delete	Removes the selected horizontal or vertical gridline from the curtain wall frame
Frame Settings	Opens the Frame Settings dialog box, to set the type of frames and their appearance; see Setting Curtain Wall Frame Parameters
Panel Settings	Opens the Panel Settings dialog box, to set the type of panels and their appearance; see Setting Curtain Wall Panel Parameters
Wall Thickness	Sets the standard frame depth for the curtain wall. This value displays when determining the frame and panel settings, for reference. To avoid errors where walls join, keep the wall thickness and frame thickness values similar.
Offset Reference	Specifies the offset reference point for frame and panel offsets; the actual offset distances are set in the Frame Settings and Panel Settings dialog boxes
Wall Opacity	Sets the opacity of the curtain wall in Top/Plan view
Use Class Opacity	Sets wall opacity by class rather than by the parameters in the Wall Preferences dialog box
Opacity	Specifies the transparency of the wall; drag the slider to the left to increase the transparency, or enter a percentage directly in the box to the right of the slider
Insertion Options
Height
Height	Directly sets the desired height of the wall. When the wall height is determined manually by this method, the Top Bound property of the wall is automatically set to Layer Elevation, and the Top Offset value is modified accordingly. When the top of the wall is bound by the layer wall height value, the wall height updates automatically.
Top Bound	Sets the vertical reference that determines the top of the wall. The Layer Wall Height value is set by the design layer (see Setting Design Layer Properties). Additional options are available for the Vectorworks Architect product. The top of the wall can be bound by one of the story levels defined for the story or the story above it. By setting the top of the wall to a level type, if the elevation of the associated story changes, the height of the wall changes automatically to match. The default curtain wall styles automatically assign a top bound level type to the wall, assuming that stories will be used in the file. However, this can be changed by selecting a different option.
Top Offset	Sets the offset of the top of the wall from its specified top bound height
Bottom Bound	Sets the vertical reference that determines the bottom of the wall; Layer Elevation is the only option available unless the Vectorworks Architect product is installed. Additional options are available for the Vectorworks Architect product. The bottom of the wall can be bound by one of the story levels defined for the story or the story below it. By setting the bottom of the wall to a level type, if the elevation of the associated story changes, the height of the wall changes automatically to match. The default curtain wall styles automatically assign a bottom bound level type to the wall, assuming that stories will be used in the file. However, this can be changed by selecting a different option.
Bottom Offset	For the bottom of the wall, sets the offset from the layer elevation
Energos (Vectorworks Architect required)	Energy analysis parameters for curtain walls are specified in the frame and panel settings. Vectorworks Architect is required to conduct an energy analysis; however, energy-related parameters can be specified here for informational purposes.
Caps	Select whether a wall segment is capped at the start point, the end point, both ends, or has no caps at all
Class	Specifies the default class for the walls
Curtain Wall Cut Plane	Defines the Z-height, relative to the layer where the curtain walls are drawn, for drawing the Top/Plan view of the curtain wall
Control Offset	If using the Custom Control Line wall mode, enter the offset value for the control line
Textures	Textures for curtain walls are controlled by the frame and panel settings
Data	Specifies wall record information, which is also the IFC data that can be assigned when creating an IFC entity (edits to either the Data tab or the IFC entity edit the data in both locations). This information can be included in a wall style schedule. These fields are optional; enter text only where desired.

5. When the curtain wall parameters have been specified, and any changes have been saved as a wall style resource if desired, click OK. A saved or selected wall style is saved as a resource in the file, and displays in the Resource Browser and in the Wall Style list on the Tool bar.

6. If Polygon mode is selected, click at the starting point of the first curtain wall section.

7. Click to end the first wall section.

To continue creating curtain walls, click at the end of each additional wall section.

8. Double-click to finish the curtain wall if the start point and end point are not at the same location; otherwise, click at the starting location (a SmartCursor cue displays) to finish the wall.

Alternatively, after completing all but the final click, press the keyboard shortcut (K by default) to automatically close the polygonal wall network. See Drawing Straight Walls.

9. If Rectangle mode is selected, click at the wall’s start point; this becomes one corner of the rectangular wall system. Move the cursor to the opposite corner until the desired size is previewed.

10. Click to set a corner point on the wall system. Four walls are created.

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Setting Curtain Wall Frame Parameters

Setting Curtain Wall Panel Parameters

Editing Curtain Walls

Wall Properties

Creating Walls

Using Wall Styles

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