What is a Timber Curtain Wall?

Aluminum may be the default choice for curtain wall framing, but it isn’t the only option. A timber curtain wall uses glass and infill panels carried on an engineered timber frame rather than extruded aluminum mullions. For architects considering lower-carbon materials without giving up facade performance, timber offers a genuine alternative. This guide looks at how timber curtain wall systems are built, how they perform, and where they make the most sense.

Inside a Timber Curtain Wall System

A timber curtain wall uses engineered timber—typically glue-laminated timber, or glulam—to replace the aluminum mullions and transoms found in a conventional system. Like any non-load-bearing curtain wall system, it carries its own weight along with wind and environmental loads rather than supporting the building structure.

Timber can form the complete framing system, with stainless steel bracketry typically used at corner connections. This allows the system to maintain slim sight lines while taking advantage of the structural properties of engineered wood.

How Timber Curtain Wall Systems Are Built

The easiest way to understand a timber curtain wall is to look at its basic components. Novum’s Unitized Timber Curtainwall brings these elements together as a complete facade system.

Glulam chassis — The structural frame replaces conventional aluminum framing with engineered timber profiles. Glulam provides the predictable strength and dimensional stability needed for slender facade components.

Glazing — Triple glazing is standard, with options including pressure plate and capped or toggle glazing systems. The result is a facade that can accommodate demanding thermal and acoustic requirements.

Solid panel zones — Areas of the facade that aren’t glazed can integrate different cladding systems, including GRC, brick slip, and aluminum. This gives designers flexibility in how the facade balances transparent and opaque areas.

Glass-to-solid ratio — Timber framing isn’t limited to one facade aesthetic. Systems can support both high and low glass-to-solid ratios, allowing the design team to adjust daylight, views, privacy, and material expression to suit the building.

How Timber Performs in a Facade

Thermal performance is one of timber’s natural advantages. Unlike metal, which readily conducts heat and relies on thermal breaks, timber has inherent insulating properties. Combined with precision-engineered triple glazing, it can contribute to a highly thermally efficient envelope.

Acoustic performance also benefits from triple glazing as standard, helping the facade manage external noise where acoustic control is part of the design brief.

Interior effect matters, too. Exposed timber framing creates a warm, tactile character on the interior, making the structure part of the architectural experience rather than something hidden behind a finish.

Durability and maintenance are addressed through the system design itself. Cladding can be integrated at solid panel zones, while factory finishing provides protection to exposed timber surfaces before the facade reaches site.

Where Timber Curtain Walls Fit

Timber curtain walls are particularly well suited to mass timber and hybrid-frame buildings, as well as offices pursuing net-zero or ESG targets, education and civic buildings, and hospitality projects where interior warmth is part of the brief. They can also offer a significantly lower carbon profile. For more on Novum’s methodology for sustainable design, read our sustainability approach.

That said, timber isn’t automatically the right choice for every project. Very high-rise buildings or projects facing extreme exposure conditions may present greater challenges and require closer evaluation during design.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a timber curtain wall?

A timber curtain wall is a non-load-bearing building envelope where glass and infill panels are carried on an engineered timber frame instead of extruded aluminum. The timber profiles, usually glue-laminated, perform the structural role that mullions and transoms perform in a conventional curtain wall system.

What timber is used in a curtain wall system?

Glue-laminated timber, or glulam, is the standard — most commonly spruce. Glulam is manufactured by bonding graded timber laminations, which produces predictable structural properties and dimensional stability in the slender profiles a facade frame requires.

Are timber curtain walls as strong as aluminum?

Engineered timber profiles can be sized to meet the same structural performance as an aluminum system of equivalent geometry. Stainless steel bracketry is typically used at corner connections, which keeps sight lines slim while transferring loads through the frame.

How does a timber curtain wall perform thermally?

Timber’s natural insulating properties give the framing an advantage over metal, which conducts heat and requires thermal breaks. Paired with triple glazing as standard, timber curtain wall systems deliver strong thermal performance alongside improved acoustic performance.

What’s the difference between a timber curtain wall and a mass timber facade?

A mass timber facade usually refers to the building’s structural frame being timber. A timber curtain wall is the envelope itself — the framing that carries the glazing — and it can be installed on a timber, steel, or concrete structure.

Bringing Timber Into Your Facade

A Unitized Timber Curtainwall provides a prefabricated approach to the system described here, bringing the timber chassis, glazing, and solid panel zones together as a coordinated facade solution. Novum Designer Assist can help teams test the approach against their budget early in design.