Curtain Wall for Non-Curtain Wall Facades

[dgraue]

Who is using the curtain wall method to create "non-curtain wall" exterior facades in large projects? The idea is to draw a five-story curtain wall and subdivide it with the curtain grid command...then assign various types of stucco walls to the curtain panels and insert windows into these.

This strategy seems to be very fast and offers a lot of design flexibility with various setback options and wall finishes. I am concerned about possible performance issues and other unforeseen pitfalls down the road on a project of +200,000 sf. (See attached example)

If you've had experience with this, I'd like to hear your comments.

[DanielleAnderson]

I've got a project like this right now - it's actually precast/brick veneer.
It works fine as long as you aren't making tons of changes, and the pattern isn't too complex because then there is a lot of time involved to make the changes.
My first iteration (this building is roughly 160' tall) had one wall spanning the whole distance. That was an absolute nightmare to make changes to because you may notice (quirkieness) that when you add a new grid, Revit wants to change panels back to glass, then you have to go back and fix them, that sort of thing. As far as the curtain grid went, I felt sort of like a basket weaver after a while. I would recommend building a wall that spans only one floor, or the height of one complete level of the pattern, and then copy it upwards. If you want to get really savvy, you can group the wall and then copy it upwards, then you only have to make changes once. Groups have their issues too, though, although I am not in 2008, maybe that improved them.
Overall - a slightly tedious method, but I couldnt' think of another way to get the intricate wall patterns I needed.

[dgraue]

I've got a project like this right now - it's actually precast/brick veneer.
It works fine as long as you aren't making tons of changes, and the pattern isn't too complex because then there is a lot of time involved to make the changes.
My first iteration (this building is roughly 160' tall) had one wall spanning the whole distance. That was an absolute nightmare to make changes to because you may notice (quirkieness) that when you add a new grid, Revit wants to change panels back to glass, then you have to go back and fix them, that sort of thing. As far as the curtain grid went, I felt sort of like a basket weaver after a while. I would recommend building a wall that spans only one floor, or the height of one complete level of the pattern, and then copy it upwards. If you want to get really savvy, you can group the wall and then copy it upwards, then you only have to make changes once. Groups have their issues too, though, although I am not in 2008, maybe that improved them.
Overall - a slightly tedious method, but I couldnt' think of another way to get the intricate wall patterns I needed.

I noticed that quirk of panels changing to glass when adding a grid too...odd behavior. I'm using 2008 and groups seem to work quite well. In the early going I do like this method for exterior walls. The shallow offsets of the perimeter seem to clean up much better than convensional walls in plan views.

Anyone else working this way?

[dbaldacchino]

One disadvantage I see in substituting walls for curtain panels is the lack of control over the location of such wall within the grid. You can only locate your wall with what the 5 justification options allow you....no fine tuning is possible. I guess to get around this, you might create special curtain panels to resemble your walls and assign materials to them.

EDIT: Oops, my apologies....I goofed :Oops: Missed seeing that "Location Line Offset" parameter that shows up when you substitute a C.P. with a wall.

[DanielleAnderson]

One disadvantage I see in substituting walls for curtain panels is the lack of control over the location of such wall within the grid. You can only locate your wall with what the 5 justification options allow you....no fine tuning is possible. I guess to get around this, you might create special curtain panels to resemble your walls and assign materials to them.

EDIT: Oops, my apologies....I goofed :Oops: Missed seeing that "Location Line Offset" parameter that shows up when you substitute a C.P. with a wall.

The one problem with specialized panels is that they don't act as walls so you can't insert windows/doors into them and obviously, wall assemblies are a bit more challenging.

[dbaldacchino]

You'll have to build doors/windows as face-based elements.