Best Motorized Window Treatments for Large Windows
Walls of glass, sliding-door openings, and twelve-foot spans — what to specify when the window is the architecture.
Large windows fail more drapery specifications than any other condition. Weight, span, stack, and travel speed all multiply as the opening grows, and the wrong specification reads as compromise from the day it is installed.
Motorized ripple fold on recessed ceiling track
The default specification for a wall of glass. Ripple fold stacks tightly off-glass, the recessed ceiling track conceals all hardware, and a hardwired DC motor handles the weight of a twelve-foot panel without hesitation.
Placeholder for Olga's project examples: large-span glass installations in Pacific Palisades and Malibu.
Motorized roller shades for daytime solar control
Behind or in front of a ripple-fold drapery layer, a motorized solar roller shade in 3% or 5% openness handles glare, UV, and heat gain during the day. Recessed in a ceiling pocket, fabric joins under one millimeter, hem bar hung true across the entire span.
Coordinated control on a single keypad
Drapery and shade specified as one program, exposed to the homeowner through a single bedside or wall keypad. Morning raises the shade and opens the drapery; evening reverses both; sleep closes the blackout. The window is operated as a system.
Questions homeowners ask us
- How wide can a single motorized drapery track run?
- We specify single-track runs to twenty-four feet without a center break; longer spans are typically split with a concealed seam at the architectural midpoint.
- Will the motor be visible on a wall of glass?
- Not if the ceiling pocket is detailed during framing. Retrofits sometimes accept a small concealed valance; we will not specify a visible motor head.