Design for Manufacture and Assembly Oriented Design Approach to a Curtain Wall System: A Case Study of a Commercial Building in Wuhan, China

A curtain wall system (CWS) is one of the most popular elements for the external walls of large, multistory buildings. Applying the design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) principles to the design of a CWS aims to increase the quality, sustainability, and cost efficiency associated with the assembly of the CWS. Studies reporting a DfMA-oriented design approach to CWSs are extremely rare. This paper reports a case study of a successful application of a DfMA-oriented design approach to a CWS in a commercial building in Wuhan, China. The case study provides valuable information about how DfMA could be applied to the construction industry. Through interviews with key project participants and on-site observations, the benefits of a DfMA-oriented CWS design were revealed, including decreased material cost and waste, reduced on-site assembly time, and improved quality and aesthetic performance of the CWS. It was also found that an operative multidisciplinary team underpinned the success of DfMA application in the case project, which, however, might be held back by the absence of any use of digital, parametric design technologies during the design process.