CURTAIN WALL DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION.pdf

School of Architecture
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


Spring 2010 Course Description: ARCH 576-SM Graduate Seminar

CURTAIN WALL
DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION

Professor Scott Murray
Credit: 3 hours
Enrollment limited to 12 graduate students


Recent years have seen a rapidly growing interest among contemporary architects in the innovative
use of curtain walls as building enclosure. This seminar explores in depth the processes of design
and construction of the building envelope in a materials-based approach, with an emphasis on
leading-edge curtain wall systems. Students who plete the course will gain
knowledge necessary to address a broad range of aesthetic and technical issues passed by
the design of curtain wall systems in contemporary architectural practice.

Topics of study include: the history of curtain walls • technical and aesthetic performance • energy
efficiency and sustainable strategies • glass, metals and other materials • glass and mullion
calculations • prefabrication methodology • the architect’s role in bidding, fabrication and
installation procedures • current and future developments in curtain wall design.

The course anized into three phases:

(1) Readings, lectures and discussion on fundamental concepts in curtain wall design
(2) Case Study Research Project
(3) Final Design Project

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