Jul. 07, 2025
Curtain walls are non-structural exterior walls made of aluminium frames containing metal panels and glass infills.
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They enclose a structure without bearing structural loads and offer aesthetic appeal, making them an essential component of modern architectural and interior designs.
Revit allows extensive customization of the curtain wall systems, offering design flexibility while maintaining structural integrity.
This project-based article dives into the types of curtain walls in Revit, highlighting their differences.
It covers grids’ customization, integration of other elements such as a door, window, roof and basic walls, followed by the creation of curtain walls on Revit masses and their synchronization with Lumion for better visualization.
For a visual walk-through, refer to the video version here.
To begin, open Revit software, create a new architectural template and then proceed to save your project using your preferred name title.
To model a curtain wall, navigate to the Architecture tab and click on Wall under the Build panel.
Alternatively, use the keyboard shortcut WA to activate the wall command.
Under the Properties menu, select the drop-down menu to explore the three main curtain walls namely : curtain wall-empty, exterior glazing and storefront.
A "Curtain_wall–Empty" has no predefined grids, panels, or mullions.
A "Curtain wall- Exterior Glazing" has predefined grids with no mullions and is used mostly for large, glazed facades.
The "Curtain wall – Storefront" has configured grids, panels, and mullions and is commonly used for commercial entrances and storefronts.
In this article, I will show you how to customize the curtain wall using the storefront curtain wall type.
Select the curtain wall and under the Properties menu, click on Edit Type.
In the Type Properties floating window, you can specify various parameters, such as, the function of the curtain wall, curtain panel, join condition, grids, mullions, etc.
In this example, I have set the function of the curtain wall as exterior, join condition chosen is Vertical Grid Continuous, vertical and horizontal grids with spacings of mm maximum spacing, interior mullions as circular mullions of 25mm radius and border mullions as circular mullions of 50mm radius.
Feel free to modify the data provided to align with your project needs and standards.
Select the grids and a Modify | Curtain Wall Grids menu will open.
Here, click on the Add/Remove Segments under Curtain Grid panel and remove the necessary grids to create space for a door.
To create a proper door frame, ensure to join the mullions.
To do so, select the mullions and use the Toggle Mullion Join to connect them.
Insert the door, navigate to Insert tab and click on Load family.
In the Load Family floating window, navigate to the curtain wall panel family and load in your preferred curtain wall door type.
On your workspace, select the door frame panel and then under the Properties Menu, select the door you had loaded in your project.
Navigate to the Insert tab then select Load Family.
In the Load Family floating Window, Load in your preferred window and click on open.
Select a curtain wall panel where you would like to insert the window and under Properties menu, replace the panel with the loaded window.
Select your panels where you would like to place the walls and under the Properties Menu, select your preferred type of basic wall.
To add the curtain wall systems to the Revit masses, first bring the mass models to your workspace area by navigating to Massing and Site tab then selecting Show Mass Floors and Floors.
Navigate to the Architecture tab and under Build panel, select the Curtain Wall system.
Select the mass models and pick the faces on which you would like to place the curtain wall then finalize by selecting Create System.
Navigate to Massing and Site tab and then click on Show Mass Form and Floors to hide the Revit mass model and remain with the curtain wall system.
To modify the curtain wall grids, select the curtain wall then under Properties menu, click on Edit Type.
In the Type Properties floating window, modify the grids to have a maximum spacing of 500mm with the interior and border mullions to be circular and of radius 25mm and 50mm radius respectively.
Modify the model properties to best suit your project needs.
To add a roof, first add the remaining walls to enclose the space and have a complete curtain wall structure.
Navigate to the Architecture tab and under Build panel, click on Roof.
Under the Properties menu, choose the Sloped Glazing roof type to use.
Use the Pick Walls drawing option to outline your roof position.
Ensure to define your roof slope as well as the overhang as shown in the image below.
Once done, click on Finish Edit Mode to finalize your roof model.
In the Properties menu you can now modify the grids and mullions of the roof as depicted in the image below.
Once your model is complete, navigate to Lumion tab then select Live Sync to integrate the Revit model with Lumion.
Whether you are an architect, engineer or designer, mastering how to create a curved glass wall using Revit and integrating it into Lumion will be required at some point.
To get started, open Revit, select New under Models then choose an Architectural Template.
Save your drawing to a preferred folder and in the File Save Options, set the maximum backup to 1.
To create walls in Revit, you can use the keyboard shortcut WA to activate the wall command.
Alternatively, navigate to the Architecture tab and under the Build panel, choose the architectural wall in the drop-down menu.
Under the Properties menu, choose any basic wall type, such as a 300mm thick reinforcement concrete wall, as used in this article.
To draw the basic wall as a curved wall, select the wall, then use the circle drawing option from the Draw panel.
The basic wall will appear as a curved wall as depicted in the exhibit below.
When working with a curtain wall, which will act as a glass wall with mullions, use the same circle drawing option to draw it on your workspace.
You will notice that the curved curtain wall does not have a smooth curve shape as shown in the image below.
To fix that, I will first create a custom curved wall which I will use to assign to the curved glass curtain wall.
Navigate to the Architecture tab, and under Build panel, select Wall.
Here I will choose the same basic wall property, that is, the 300mm thick reinforcement concrete wall, and then navigate to Edit Type to edit the structure.
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In the Edit Assembly floating window, click on Preview to showcase the changes and under structure material, change it to glass of thickness 20mm and change the view to Section: Modify type attributes.
To add profiles to the curved wall, click on Sweeps, then change the profile from default to Profiles_Handrail_Rectangular: 50x50mm to start from base as depicted below.
I’ll then duplicate the same profile and attach it from top.
As for both profiles, I will assign Aluminum as the material.
Once done, you will visibly see the profiles in the preview as shown below.
Click on Apply and then OK.
You will observe that the curtain wall does not have a smooth curve.
To implement the same properties of the curved wall created, select your curtain wall and under Properties menu, click on Edit Type to change the curtain panel to the newly designed basic wall which in our case is the SC-Curved Wall as shown below.
The curtain wall will automatically have the smooth curves all around as shown below.
Select the curtain wall and under Edit Type, under the Vertical Grid option, I will set the vertical grid layout to have a Maximum Spacing of mm.
Under Vertical Mullions, I will choose to use Rectangular Mullion: 50x150mm, with the Borders having V Corner Mullion of 150x150mm.
These spacing, type and size of mullions can be adjusted to well suit your project needs.
Create a new workspace and navigate to the Architectural tab, and under Build panel, select Wall.
In the Properties menu, choose your type of wall and in this example, I will use the curtain wall exterior glazing.
Using the Start–End–Radius arc under the Draw panel, create half the curved glass wall.
Mirror this segment to complete the curve.
To create the roof, navigate to the Architectural tab, and under Build panel, select Roof and choose the appropriate level on which the roof will be placed.
In this article, I placed it on Level 1.
Navigate to the Architectural tab, and under Build panel, select Floor: Architectural.
Using the Pick Walls drawing option, pick the walls to assign the floor.
In the image below you can now visualize the 3D view of the floor.
Navigate to the Architectural tab, and under Build panel, select Door.
In the Properties menu, select Edit Type to load your preferred door suitable to fit with the curved glass wall.
The door used in this example has been highlighted in the image below.
Once you have placed all the elements in place, you can enhance your model's visibility.
To do so, select Graphic Display Options, then in the pop-up window you can adjust the model display, shadows, background, lighting, etc.
To further improve your aesthetics of the model, you can use rendering software such as Lumion.
Simply launch your Lumion software, create a new project and then choose your preferred environment.
In this case, I chose to go for Suburban environment.
Here are some questions that our students ask quite frequently.
What is the difference between a curtain wall system and a curtain wall?
A curtain wall system is created from mass models hence taking the shape of the mass.
A curtain wall has a set grid configuration which flows vertically and horizontally.
How do I change the orientation of a curtain wall?
Once you have modelled your curtain wall in the 2D model, select the curtain wall and the flip control arrows will display.
By clicking the arrows, you can now flip the interior and exterior wall surfaces.
Can I apply specific material to individual panels without altering the other panels?
Yes!
To do so, tab-select the panel and override its material properties in the Properties menu.
Can I adjust the visibility of the vertical and horizontal mullions in different views?
Absolutely, yes!
Using the Visibility/Graphics Override settings, toggle the visibility of the mullions in your curved glass wall.
How do I ensure the curved glass wall follows the curve of a sloped roof?
After drawing your curved glass wall, use the Attach Top/Base tool to align it to the roof.
Further adjustments can be made by using the Edit Profile to manually adjust the curtain wall height.
Can I create a curtain with varying heights?
For projects that may require curtain walls with varying heights, use the Edit Profile tool and manually adjusting the height along different points.
By implementing the outlined steps given for modelling and customizing a curtain wall, you can make and modify all types of curtain walls quite easily.
If you have questions feel free to share it in the comment section below.
I want to create a natural curved curtain wall.
I want to add a grid to create a curtain wall in the form of curves rather than bends.
How should I do that?
@ggw_ wrote:
Thanks for the reply.
But I want the mullion to be curved as well.
Do I need to create an additional mullion profile separately?
Did you miss the part saying using structural framing for curved mullions?
Another way, use a curved basic wall for curved glass and place wall sweeps for mullions.
Here's one more approach:
1. create a basic wall which is just the glass, name it "CurtainGlass". Use wall sweeps which will serve horizontal mullion role. In my example I just used brick profile, you'll have to create your profile for it to mach your regular mullions because mullion profiles can't be used for wall sweeps.
2. Start another curtain wall and edit type so that for "curtain panel" you select "CurtainGlass". Clear everything for horizontal mullions.
Example file attached.
For more information, please visit Building Curtain Walls.
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