How to make a curtain wall

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Foreword

Opera Job Management allows you to design three types of curtain walls:

• Mullions and transoms: this is the simplest curtain wall, which involves a grid composed of vertical mullions and horizontal transoms that delimit the mirrors where curtain walls and opening elements are subsequently inserted.
• Structural/Semi-structural: consists of a curtain wall where the glass is fixed on special frames by means of special sealants; this involves being able to eliminate the elements of external structure, thus giving the facade a continuity of glazed surfaces. The difference between structural and semi-structural consists in the fact that in the latter the glass is resting but inside the profile, which consequently is visible on the outside.
• Blocks: consists of modular frames prefabricated in the workshop with the infills already inserted.

The design of a curtain wall is similar for all the types listed; however, the profiles and accessories to be used will be different. Below is the procedure for making a curtain wall with mullions and transoms.

NOTE:
To activate the buttons related to curtain wall management, it is necessary to enter the Data Type panel of the design sheet and activate the Curtain wall box

The archives of the facade

The design of a curtain wall presupposes the presence of a profile archive dedicated to a curtain wall series. Therefore, it is necessary to create a system and series that contain profiles and accessories related to this type. The loading procedure is identical to the one already seen for the 'profile archive, for which please refer to that chapter.

It is important that the compound profiles that are widely used in this typology are loaded into the facade archive, and the accessories are inserted correctly. Again, the relevant guide articles can be consulted.

The design of the facade

From the Design Sheet, press the File:Keyinser.png button to enter a new type: this will open the Type Selection panel where we can choose the type or create a new one. Once we have made our choice, press the File:Keyook.png button to return to the Design Sheet and enter the type. We now press the File:Keyinser.png button and give the typology we entered the dimensions that the facade should have. The next step is to create the lattice within the structure.

The insertion of mullions and transoms

N.B: See also the procedure outlined in M/T multiplication kit management for inserting the uprights and crossbars.

• To insert the mullions and transoms manually we press the File:Motiplica.png button and open the Multiplication Parameters panel.
• We choose from archive the upright compound profile, fill in the field Type ins. choosing Up to wall and enter the number of uprights for example 1.
• If the composed profile has the accessories matched, according to the procedure seen above, the program asks us if we want them to be inserted with the profile: we select YES.
• In the fields Base elevation and Top elevation you can specify the distance from the ground of the first traverse and the distance from the ceiling to the last traverse, respectively.
• Let's go back to the Design Sheet and select the File:Keyboardcolumns.png button.
• Let's position ourselves to the right or above and below the structure, and with a click of the mouse insert the uprights and crossbars that are provided for the structure.
• The program will ask you which type of input to choose:

for the first insertion we suggest that you select Unity, to maintain the priority of the upright over the traverse.

Let's enter all the profiles (figure 1) and, if we want to have equal glasses, we select the File:Keyequal.png button and then the File:Keyequalglasses.png button (figure 2). When this is finished, we uncheck the item Equal glasses (figure 3).