The Difference Between Glass Curtain Walls and Aluminum Alloy Doors and Windows

Glass curtain walls, also known as architectural curtain walls or curtain walls, are a common type of facade in modern buildings. They are generally constructed of materials such as metal, glass, stone, and artificial panels. Installed as the outermost layer of a building, they function like walls, offering aesthetics, wind and rain protection, and energy efficiency. Curtain walls do not bear any structural loads; they are connected to structural panels or columns to bear their weight and resist wind pressure.

Aluminum alloy doors and windows are those made with extruded aluminum alloy profiles for frames, stiles, and sashes. These include doors and windows with aluminum alloy as the base material (members that bear and transmit weight and loads) and doors and windows made with wood or plastic composites, referred to as aluminum-wood composite doors and windows and aluminum-plastic composite doors and windows.

For a long time, the industry has struggled to agree on the definition of curtain walls and doors and windows. Both are building support structures, neither of which bears the loads of the main structure. However, certain boundary practices have made it difficult to define doors and windows as curtain walls. To maintain aesthetics and save costs, many companies often use door and window materials to create curtain wall effects. This not only complicates construction inspections but also creates safety hazards for the resulting support structures. To prevent this from continuing, the industry standard "Glass Curtain Wall Engineering Technical Specifications" provides a clear definition of the concept of glass curtain walls: a building's external support structure or decorative line structure consisting of a supporting structure system and panels, capable of certain displacement relative to the main structure, and not bearing the forces exerted on the main structure.

This mentions the concept of certain displacement relative to the main structure. Doors and windows, as support structures supported within openings in the main structure, cannot meet this requirement. In curtain wall design, the overall frame is suspended outside the main structure, and structural measures such as expansion joints ensure relative movement.