PRANCE metalwork is a leading manufacturer of metal ceiling and facade systems.
What building types most commonly use curtain wall systems for exterior envelopes?
Curtain wall systems are most commonly specified for large commercial, institutional, and high-rise residential buildings where a modern, high-performance exterior is required. In the Middle East — especially in UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi), Qatar (Doha), and Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) — developers favor unitized and stick curtain walls for office towers, mixed-use complexes, five-star hotels, and commercial plazas because they deliver an elegant glass-dominant façade that communicates prestige while meeting thermal and structural performance demands.
Clients typically care about solar control, thermal insulation, wind and seismic resistance, maintenance access, and fast installation. Curtain walls provide an adaptable solution: unitized systems accelerate schedule for high-rise towers; stick systems offer site flexibility for complex geometries; and structural glass or semi-unitized systems create frameless or minimal-frame aesthetics for signature landmarks.
For projects extending into Central Asia (Almaty, Tashkent, Ashgabat, Bishkek, Dushanbe), curtain walls are popular for government buildings, cultural centers, airport terminals, and contemporary shopping malls where daylighting, views, and modern identity matter. In harsh climates, curtain walls are paired with high-performance glazing (low-E coatings, double or triple glazing, warm edge spacers) and thermal breaks to meet local codes and reduce HVAC loads.
From a product standpoint, manufacturers like you should highlight regional case studies, climatic adaptations (solar control in Gulf sun; thermal retention in Central Asian winter), local fabrication capacity, and end-to-end services (engineering, mockups, testing, installation supervision). That reassures clients about durability, compliance, and lifecycle costs — the main concerns for specifying curtain wall envelopes in the region.