Profiling Curtain Wall Mullions

What Revit categorizes as curtain wall we use for anything from actual curtain to skin, store front, interior partitions, windows and so much more. It's a very versatile tool. And as versatile as the curtain wall is the mullions we place in them are less so, or so it would seem. 

Revit works like this...

Each mullion type is based on a profile family. The profiles that ship with Revit are system profiles. You'll notice in the type properties of the mullions, the profile is set to either Default or in some cases System Mullion Profile: Rectangular. Corner mullion families don't reference a profile at all. You cannot edit these profiles and there are only a few parameters to adjust them. You can change the profile in the type properties of all mullion types except the corner mullions. 

(Warning! Corner mullions are not easily reloaded into a project. Take care when purging models to avoid purging corner mullions)

Don't like it? Customize it

The good news is you don't have to settle for the out of the box mullions. There is a Revit family template specifically designed for the creation of mullions. Since mullions are base on profiles, the skies the limit as to the shape you want to create... almost. There are limitations of course, but there's one mullion profile I want to focus on in particular. The mullion used with a butt glazed joint is a popular one and I'm asked all the time how to create it. It's actually not too difficult, but there are definitely some tips and tricks that you have to know to make this one work the way it should.

  

Read the fine print!

As stated earlier, mullions are just profile lines drawn two dimensionally. Revit does the rest for you. Don't forget to read the little note in the mullion profile family template about where curtain panels are trimmed what a mullion is inserted into the curtain wall. Understanding this makes all the difference. I like to add a dimension parameter to the length of the mullion so it's easy to stretch. You can also add a width dimension parameter to it for even more control. 

Load it up

Load this family into your project and add it to a mullion family. You can either duplicate one of the existing mullion families or right click on the family and choose create new type. Then just switch out the mullion profile in the type properties with the new one you created. 

A few minor adjustments 

Making adjustments to this family isn't exactly straight forward. For example, to adjust it you have to edit the type properties in the mullion family as well as the profile family.

Revit is a Calculator!

I find few people know this little tidbit. Adding an equal sign in front of an expression turns Revit into a calculator. You can use this little trick almost anywhere you have a dimension. That means you don't have to guess what 4.5" + 1 21/64" to adjust the length of this mullion. You can let Revit do the math for you. 

It's 5 53/64" by the way. 

Here's the final curtain wall with butt glazed panels. I hope this was helpful and adds to your work flow. Certainly if you have any questions about how to create your own mullion profile please do not hesitate to ask me. 

Also I'd like to hear from you if you have any other uses for the Revit Calculator. I'd be interested in hearing about any use cases where you found it useful. 

Profiling Curtain Wall Mullions

What Revit categorizes as curtain wall we use for anything from actual curtain to skin, store front, interior partitions, windows and so much more. It's a very versatile tool. And as versatile as the curtain wall is the mullions we place in them are less so, or so it would seem. 

Revit works like this...

Each mullion type is based on a profile family. The profiles that ship with Revit are system profiles. You'll notice in the type properties of the mullions, the profile is set to either Default or in some cases System Mullion Profile: Rectangular. Corner mullion families don't reference a profile at all. You cannot edit these profiles and there are only a few parameters to adjust them. You can change the profile in the type properties of all mullion types except the corner mullions. 

(Warning! Corner mullions are not easily reloaded into a project. Take care when purging models to avoid purging corner mullions)

Don't like it? Customize it

The good news is you don't have to settle for the out of the box mullions. There is a Revit family template specifically designed for the creation of mullions. Since mullions are base on profiles, the skies the limit as to the shape you want to create... almost. There are limitations of course, but there's one mullion profile I want to focus on in particular. The mullion used with a butt glazed joint is a popular one and I'm asked all the time how to create it. It's actually not too difficult, but there are definitely some tips and tricks that you have to know to make this one work the way it should.

  

Read the fine print!

As stated earlier, mullions are just profile lines drawn two dimensionally. Revit does the rest for you. Don't forget to read the little note in the mullion profile family template about where curtain panels are trimmed what a mullion is inserted into the curtain wall. Understanding this makes all the difference. I like to add a dimension parameter to the length of the mullion so it's easy to stretch. You can also add a width dimension parameter to it for even more control. 

Load it up

Load this family into your project and add it to a mullion family. You can either duplicate one of the existing mullion families or right click on the family and choose create new type. Then just switch out the mullion profile in the type properties with the new one you created. 

A few minor adjustments 

Making adjustments to this family isn't exactly straight forward. For example, to adjust it you have to edit the type properties in the mullion family as well as the profile family.

Revit is a Calculator!

I find few people know this little tidbit. Adding an equal sign in front of an expression turns Revit into a calculator. You can use this little trick almost anywhere you have a dimension. That means you don't have to guess what 4.5" + 1 21/64" to adjust the length of this mullion. You can let Revit do the math for you. 

It's 5 53/64" by the way. 

Here's the final curtain wall with butt glazed panels. I hope this was helpful and adds to your work flow. Certainly if you have any questions about how to create your own mullion profile please do not hesitate to ask me. 

Also I'd like to hear from you if you have any other uses for the Revit Calculator. I'd be interested in hearing about any use cases where you found it useful. 

Corner Mullion

Ever want or need to create a new corner mullion for Revit only to realize you can't do it. Corner mullions are system families, so you have the ability to change the look to the ones already in Revit, but you can't create a new family. So as I was reading the AUGI forums the other day I came across a post that talked about adding corner mullion to a curtain panel family. So I tried it and the results speak for themselves. It's not a difficult build, but not for the casual user either. I create the corner mullion as a nested family so I could control the size and placement of the mullion.

Curtain Walls Part I

There is one big difference to a curtain wall and a basic wall as far as Revit is concerned. You can’t host a regular door to a curtain wall nor can you host a curtain wall door to a basic wall. The reason is because a curtain wall has no core boundary. In fact the parameter to edit the structure doesn’t exist. There are 3 curtain wall types that exist right out of the box, Curtain Wall 1, Exterior Glazing, and Storefront. The next three post will discuss each one. Curtain Wall 1 is the most basic curtain wall out of the three. This curtain wall comes with no curtain grids and therefore no mullions. You create it the same way you would create a basic wall. Select the wall button on the design bar and choose Curtain Wall - Curtain Wall 1 from the Type Selector. On the Options Bar you can adjust the options to suit your needs. Notice that you can’t change the location line. Wall centerline is selected by default and grayed out, but all other options are the same as a basic wall. Once placed you’ll notice it’s just a wall of glazing. You’ll first need to add curtain grids to be able to add mullions later. You can go about this a couple different ways. First you can click on the Modeling tab of the design bar and select the Curtain Grid button. Place your cursor over the edge of the glazing and left click to place. If you hover over the middle of the Curtain Wall you’ll notice your cursor snaps to the middle of the wall. The cursor snaps to one third and two thirds of the wall as well. After placing the curtain grids you can select each one individually and adjust it using the temporary dimensions. The other way is to go to the Element Properties → Type Parameters to change the look of the wall there. Here you have the ability to change the layout of the vertical and horizontal curtain grids as well as the mullion type for the curtain wall. You should know however, that by using this method you are pinning the curtain grids to their specific locations. You can still move them using their temporary dimensions, but you’ll have to unpin them first. Remember, if your curtain wall has a radius to it, it will look straight until you add curtain grids. It’s a segmented radius like you might expect from a curtain wall. So there you have it. If you’ve never created a curtain wall before, this should help you. If you have, I hope you learned something new.