i'm wondering what a curtain wall is from the medieval times..anybody know?
Curtain walls are glazing systems are required when the span of vertical distance in glazing system is quite large or the glazing system must support itself.
Well! Looks like Im going have to straiten things out here.. It was not an It , But a He. Sir Curtain Wall lived from 1284 to 1327, in thorn bury Eng. He was the original Renaissance man. Among his many talents and interest were, tailoring(out of necessity) and engineering. A nasty and wealthy land owner had hired Wall to do some renovations on his Castle. One of the many things he ask for was, a protected opening in the perimeter barrier. Wall devised an opening that when not in use would be covered with a curtain made of chain maille armor .The maille could be pulled aside using pull cord mechanism when ever the Sire wished to relieve him self into moat outside. This modification to castle building became popular and its use grew throughout the land. And was commonly referred to as the Curtain Wall..I hope that helps.
A curtain wall in a castle was the outside wall used to to protect the bailey or inside courtyard. Many castles had two walls, an outside curtain wall and another smaller wall inside as a last level of protection for the castle itself.
A Curtain wall is used to describe the set of walls that surround and protect the interior (bailey) of a medieval castle. These walls are often connected by a series of towers or mural towers to add strength and provide for better defense of the ground outside the castle, and are connected like a curtain draped between these posts.
A curtain wall is designed to resist air and water infiltration, wind forces acting on the building, seismic forces (usually only those imposed by the inertia of the curtain wall), and its own dead load forces. Dead loads are weights of material, equipment or components that are relatively constant throughout the structure's life (on the building). Curtain walls were originally used to protect medieval castles and were built of stone.
