PDD Practice: Storefront vs. Curtain Wall
Hello,
I hope someone can help pull out the 'relevant details' in this question.
I did not pick the storefront option because the storefront can't extend 3 stories without additional structural support. I do understand that storefront is cheaper. The cost of supporting storefront is less than a curtain wall system?
These kinds of questions trip me up, because I always assume in the wrong direction.
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Hi Mitch,
I provided an answer previously on this forum here: https://are5community.ncarb.org/hc/en-us/community/posts/11680251026327/comments/12499603983127
I agree that storefronts generally cannot extend 3 stories without significant structural reinforcement. This is one of those questions where you have to turn off your "real-world" knowledge and simply ingest only the information that is given.
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This is not a great question.
All three glazing systems will work on a three story building. From a cost perspective, curtain wall systems are most expensive, followed by window walls, and then storefront. So when they ask for the least expensive option, storefront is the answer.
However, they qualified the question by asking for a system that will retain the original aesthetic and window wall systems tend to much better approximate the look of curtain wall systems than storefront. (Both storefront and window walls span between floors, but window walls can accommodate slab edge covers that make them look more like curtain walls.) See a great video on the differences between the three systems here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DRGsoGadwHw
(Note that a ton of what’s on the internet about these systems is wrong!!!! It’s super frustrating! Storefront profiles are routinely labeled “curtain wall” and vice versa. It makes it really hard to learn.)
So the “correct” answer depends on presuming that the owner is serious about “least expensive” but less serious about “retain[ing] the aesthetics of the original design”.
As for the finish options, in fifteen years of professional practice I’ve never come across a baked enamel coating for a glazing system. But maybe others have? I presume that baked enamel is less expensive than powder coating, in which case we’re supposed to prioritize cost in the system selection, but prioritize aesthetics (and durability) in the coating selection. This is incoherent.
It’s not just you; this is a question without a clear answer. For what it’s worth, I would have selected window wall with the powder coating, just like you. It’s less expensive than the original, but comes closest to approximating the original aesthetic.
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PS: I don’t disagree with the other comments on this thread (and the linked thread). They are accurate (as far as I know, anyway! This stuff is hard!) and also really helpful. But the tension between “least expensive” and “maintain the aesthetic intent” cannot be resolved without a level of presumption that I consider unreasonable.
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