curtain wall

[FRED JOHNSON]

I am in the process of trying to model an 8 story building with a curtainwall skin for most of the facade. No matter how I try I can't seem to get the curtainwall portions to model correctly, especially the horizontal portions and spandrel panel elements. If anyone has done this sort of thing I would love to know how these can be handled.

[Jeffrey W Ouellette]

Fred,

Look at the DC Riverside Office Building at the BIM in Practice Projects webpage:

http://www.vectorworks.net/bim/projects.php

The entire south facade is a curtainwall system (you'll have to turn off the class for solar shading system to see it more clearly).

If you look at the LOD 300 .VWX(2010) model file, you'll get a detailed construction with glazing, verticals, horizontals, spandrel panels, and operable vents.

[Mitchell Brooks]

Fred,

When we have had to model curtainwall for 3D purposes, we just extrude 2"x 6" shapes and run them both vertically and horizontally. Put an aluminum texture on it and you've got curtainwall. Put a thin extrude in for glazing and thicker ones for spandrels.

Not for BIM-like purposes though. Sometimes for plan purposes or simple renderings, we use the glazed wall tool. But not a lot of vertical control there.