Why are Curtain Walls of Luxury Buildings Made of Aluminum Plates

From the tallest Princess Tower to the dearest Hongkong Tianhui, why do designers of luxury buildings select aluminum plates as curtain walls as if they have made an agreement? Generally speaking, nowadays building designers choose materials based on three factors: aesthetic requirement, safety and environmental consideration.

The metal reflectivity of aluminum plates gives off a grand noble elegance which makes a building more attractive, prominent and superior. The metal color or painted color can last decades without decaying. The curtain walls are of full closed type, and that effectively solves the problem of revealing of air conditioner and water supply pipelines. The safety of aluminium plates first refer to their light weight and good strength. With much smaller density than other metals, aluminum sheets weigh far less under the same size. The hardness of marine 5052 aluminum plate and profile 6061 sheet is sufficient to withstand exterior pressure from the nature. Their tensile strength reaches 130MPA and cutting resistance 75MPA, overshadowing all other curtain wall materials. The other aspect of safety means that buildings with aluminum curtain walls are clear from water leakage problem which keeps irritating dwellers of buildings with stone and brick walls. There’s a gap of about 12mm between the curtain wall and the wall body, and there’s little possibility for water to leak. At the same time, the gap functions as an insulation layer that reduces the wall temperature effectively. This greatly saves power consumption of air conditioners in summer. Last but not least, the walls are made of PVDF prepainted aluminium plate. In comparison with common paintings, PVDF has stronger resistance against oxidation, acid rain, UV etc.