SketchUp Exterior Composite Cladding 03: Curved Composite Columns

Ufuk ŞEN

November 6, 2026Updated: November 9, 20265 min read1

A curved composite column is one of the most effective details for adding movement to a flat glass facade. In the third part of our exterior composite series, we model the oval columns on the front facade. Then we make the eave fascia curved too. Finally, we divide the sloped side face into composite panels with Tools On Surface.

SketchUp Exterior Composite Cladding 03: Curved Composite Columns

We recorded this lesson in 2013 as Part 3 of the Exterior Composite Cladding series. Since then, SketchUp and the extensions we use have had new versions. Still, the logic of Arc, Follow Me and drawing on surfaces is the same. (The video is in Turkish; this guide walks through the key steps in English.)

In this video

Turning the composite strip into a component and pulling it out 5 cm
Drawing a 20 cm half-circle profile with Arc
Copying the column to every position on the facade
Creating a curved fascia with Weld and Follow Me
Dividing a sloped face into panels with Tools On Surface

Preparing the curved composite column

In the previous part we copied a composite strip to the side. Now we select this strip and make it a component. That way any change we make to one column carries over to all the copies.

First we pull the strip’s face out 5 cm with Push/Pull. This thickness separates the column from the facade. Then we draw the profile of the part that will be curved on the front face.

A half-circle profile with Arc

We take the Arc tool and work on the green axis. From the front, we draw a 20 cm half circle. Then we join this half circle to the top edge of the column. That way the front of the column closes with a soft curve.

The axis matters at this step. If the arc is drawn on the wrong axis, the curve opens sideways instead of perpendicular to the facade. So when drawing the Arc, make sure the cursor is green.

Placing the curved composite column across the facade

Once the column is ready, we copy it with Move while pressing Ctrl. We drop each copy in the column positions we set aside in the previous lesson. If you move it by grabbing the corner points, the placement is accurate to the millimeter.

When the last column is in place, the front facade largely takes shape. The glass strips are now divided by oval composite columns.

A curved fascia: Weld and Follow Me

In the project, the building’s fascia will be curved too. To do this, we first copy the fascia face to the side with Move and Ctrl. The copy’s edge lines are in separate pieces. Follow Me, however, needs a single continuous path.

So we delete the face in the middle and join the edge lines with the Weld extension. Weld turns separate lines into a single continuous line. Then we draw a 15 cm profile on the green axis with Arc.

Next we sweep the profile along the path with the Follow Me tool. When the first try does not give the shape we want, we undo and sweep again. In the end, the curved fascia surface is created. You can find other examples of Follow Me in our Follow Me article.

If the face comes out reversed, we right-click and choose Reverse Faces. We close the ends with lines and make it all a group. Finally, we grab the group by its corner point and set it on the facade.

The sloped side face: Tools On Surface

Now we move on to the side facade. In this series, apart from SketchUp’s own tools, we use only a few extensions. These are Weld, a small helper for changing units, and Tools On Surface.

Drawing lines on a sloped face with the regular pencil is hard, because the line does not follow the curve of the surface. First we turn on Hidden Geometry from the View menu and look at the structure of the surface. Then we draw on the surface with the line tool of Tools On Surface.

We find the midpoints and draw, exiting with Esc after each line. That way we first divide the surface into four equal parts. Sometimes a line can slip onto a face you did not want. So we recommend drawing the lines in order, one at a time.

Matching the panel size to reality

After dividing into four parts, we see the panels are still far too big. On site, nobody would install a composite sheet this size. So we split each part in half once more.

On the first try, one dividing line ended up too long. We undo it with Ctrl+Z and draw it again from the right point. In the end, each panel becomes a separate face, and we can assign materials to them individually.

Tips for curved composite columns and panels

Always make a repeating column a component; a size change then takes a single move.
Before Follow Me, make the path a single piece with Weld; otherwise the surface comes out broken.
Use Tools On Surface for drawing on curved surfaces.
Choose the panel size based on real sheet dimensions; that is how the joint rhythm looks right in the render.

To get extensions from a safe source, use the Extension Warehouse page. For the installation steps, see our plugin installation guide.

Summary

In this part we built the curved composite column with Arc and placed it across the facade. We created the curved fascia with Weld and Follow Me. Then we divided the sloped side face into realistic panel sizes with Tools On Surface. We gathered the render stage of the series on our exterior composite course set page.