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Modeling
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Curtain wall

Anonymous
Not applicable
I'm sorry if this has been covered elsewhere - I've had a search and haven't come across a solution (yet)

I've been asked to produce a model of the building in the photograph. Most of the building is complete but I'm struggling to model the glazing shown in the photo (below the pharmacy sign). I've tried using standard windows, but as the unit comprises curtain framing sections and design I can't achieve the same appearance with multiple 'ganged' windows. I've therefore been trying the curtain walling tool, however that's thrown up two problems:
  • I can't achieve a corner piece of the type shown in the photos (it's always angled 45 degrees) - I have tried drawing the two sides independently and joining them but have yet to successfully achieve a single unit this way
  • Hiding the frame section where the door will be results in an awkward gap either side of the door
I'm using ArchiCAD because of past experience and it's reputation for producing good IFC files - the model is for a University project for which IFC files are required. Unfortunately, my past ArchiCAD experience was almost entirely creating 'visually correct' models for student project submission, not 'technically correct' models! I therefore know how to model something that looks like this glazing unit, out of slabs, but for the purposes of this project this would be inadequate as the IFC file will have the correct geometry but nothing to say that the collection of slabs is actually a window. For the same reason I don't wish to make a glass-cornered curtain glazed unit with a column (or slab) to form the corner section - it'll look correct but the IFC information will be confusing.

Thanks for any help available!

1000000000000280000001E0463AF446.jpg
11 REPLIES 11
Karl Ottenstein
Moderator
If you're using a current version and not a START edition, then use the Curtainwall tool to create the curtainwall - that's a perfect example of what it is for. 😉

All of the other windows look pretty standard.

For IFC export, you can tag anything with the desired IFC element type in the settings dialog for the element.

Cheers,
Karl
One of the forum moderators
AC 28 USA and earlier   •   macOS Sonoma 14.7.1, MacBook Pro M2 Max 12CPU/30GPU cores, 32GB
Barry Kelly
Moderator
If you are not having any luck using the curtain wall then make the window unit out of slabs (laying flat on the ground) and save it as a window object - then IFC will recognise it as a window.
You could even include the corner column with the window as you make it out of slabs.
Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Anonymous
Not applicable
Thanks for the replies

I am using the full version, not Start. I think the problem is that I'm not that familiar with the Curtain Wall tool. Having drawn a two-sided curtain wall (on the building the glazing goes around the corner) I've found no way to align the mullion on the corner with the rest of the glazing - it's turned through 45 degrees whereas what it needs to be is a square (rather than rectangular) section mullion with glazing running into adjacent sides rather than opposite sides.

I'll have a go at Barry's suggestion - sounds like a good combination of working method that I'm used to and useful IFC output!
David Maudlin
Rockstar
Chris wrote:
Having drawn a two-sided curtain wall (on the building the glazing goes around the corner) I've found no way to align the mullion on the corner with the rest of the glazing - it's turned through 45 degrees whereas what it needs to be is a square (rather than rectangular) section mullion with glazing running into adjacent sides rather than opposite sides.
I have also run into this issue. My solution was to place two curtain walls that meet at the corner, then edit the end boundary frames of each CW to get the correct result. The tool should be better in these common situations. If someone has a better solution, please post.

David
David Maudlin / Architect
www.davidmaudlin.com
Digital Architecture
AC27 USA • iMac 27" 4.0GHz Quad-core i7 OSX11 | 24 gb ram • MacBook Pro M3 Pro | 36 gb ram OSX14
Barry Kelly
Moderator
I can't run Archicad at the moment and I don't use the curtain wall tool much but I seem to remember there is an option for joining two curtain walls and merging the end frame.

Just had a quick look in the manual.
Have a look for this in the curtain wall section.

Create Common Frame for Adjacent Curtain Walls
If two adjacent Curtain Walls’ Frames coincide and overlap, use this command to clean up the
join. (One of the two overlapping Frames will be transformed into a corner-like Frame, and the
other will be transformed into an Invisible Frame.)
Virtual Building
1202 ArchiCAD 15 Help
Select both Curtain Walls and use Design > Modify Curtain Wall > Create Common Frames.


Barry.
One of the forum moderators.
Versions 6.5 to 27
i7-10700 @ 2.9Ghz, 32GB ram, GeForce RTX 2060 (6GB), Windows 10
Lenovo Thinkpad - i7-1270P 2.20 GHz, 32GB RAM, Nvidia T550, Windows 11
Ralph Wessel
Mentor
Chris wrote:
I've been asked to produce a model of the building in the photograph. Most of the building is complete but I'm struggling to model the glazing shown in the photo (below the pharmacy sign). I've tried using standard windows, but as the unit comprises curtain framing sections and design I can't achieve the same appearance with multiple 'ganged' windows.
Thanks for any help available!
This would be straightforward using the Modular Joinery object. It can quite readily adapt to any arrangement of doors/windows/panels - I've used it to create something like the image you posted (see attached image).
CW.jpg
Ralph Wessel BArch
Software Engineer Speckle Systems
David Maudlin
Rockstar
Barry wrote:
I can't run Archicad at the moment and I don't use the curtain wall tool much but I seem to remember there is an option for joining two curtain walls and merging the end frame.

Just had a quick look in the manual.
Have a look for this in the curtain wall section.

Create Common Frame for Adjacent Curtain Walls
If two adjacent Curtain Walls’ Frames coincide and overlap, use this command to clean up the
join. (One of the two overlapping Frames will be transformed into a corner-like Frame, and the
other will be transformed into an Invisible Frame.)
Virtual Building
1202 ArchiCAD 15 Help
Select both Curtain Walls and use Design > Modify Curtain Wall > Create Common Frames.


Barry.
This will help some, but still requires additional editing to get the two Curtain Wall parts to join correctly.

David
David Maudlin / Architect
www.davidmaudlin.com
Digital Architecture
AC27 USA • iMac 27" 4.0GHz Quad-core i7 OSX11 | 24 gb ram • MacBook Pro M3 Pro | 36 gb ram OSX14
Erika Epstein
Booster
Another option is to use the corner window feature which has an option for a column in the corner whose size you can set. I combined it with a storefront door in the screenshot.
corner window with column.png
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Ralph Wessel
Mentor
Chris wrote:
I've found no way to align the mullion on the corner with the rest of the glazing - it's turned through 45 degrees whereas what it needs to be is a square (rather than rectangular) section mullion with glazing running into adjacent sides rather than opposite sides.
If you need a specific corner detail, the Modular Joinery gives you 3 types to choose from (see attached).
Ralph Wessel BArch
Software Engineer Speckle Systems