Annotations on the History of Curtain Walls in Industrial Buildings of the United States and Germany between 1890 and 1920

The propagation of the curtain wall goes back to W. Gropius manifest on industrial buildings (1913). Its development was not restricted to the aesthetics and constructions of industrial building, but eventually became part of the theory of modern architecture and of all building purposes. The emergence of the curtain wall cannot fully be understood without taking into account the building experiences with glasshouses, castiron- buildings, the technological development of the glass manufacturing and skeleton-constructions. Today further development includes new elements of solar and energy-saving architecture.