commentSnapback: Ceilings at Work
Ceilings come in many forms, hard and soft, dropped and stretched, but how do you design one that cuts bills, halves labor, and minimizes waste? Sustainability may be a part of the industry’s vernacular but it still has a ways to go. Architects will tell you that most manufacturers have a sustainable story but with no legislation to govern production, material selection presents a frustrating conundrum of trade-offs. Still, green is looking better all the time (using USG’s Pixels process, right, along with their recycled aluminum ceiling panels, you can transmute any image into a perforated ceiling design), and plenty of rules apply: Stay local; choose FSC-certified lumber; and use passive, daylighting strategies. —Damaris Colhoun
Based on what you have seen and read about this project, how would you grade it? Use the stars below to indicate your assessment, five stars being the highest rating.
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Eric Corey Freed
Founding Principal
Organic ARCHITECT
San Francisco, Calif.
“A client wanted to use bamboo tiles for the ceiling in a luxury commercial project. They priced out to $95,000. As an alternative, I suggested Homasote tiles made from recycled newspaper. We cut the tiles, stained them, sanded them, and put them in a black ceiling grid from Armstrong. Everyone thinks the tiles are some gorgeous leather. The total cost was $1,200.”
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Monica Ponce De Leon
Principal,
Office dA
Boston, Mass.
“Digital fabrication techniques, like scripting, are a way to maximize what you get out of a sheet of material, letting you design a ceiling with no waste left over. We tend to focus on materials and assembly and forget what happens when the life comes to an end. Ceiling systems are easy to assemble but they’re a mess to take apart; I’d like to see systems that make it easier to do both.”
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Peter Rose, AIA
Senior Principal
Peter Rose + Partners
Cambridge, Mass.
“We’re building active ceilings using radiant heat. Since water transmits heat energy much more efficiently than air, the energy savings can be as much as 60%. We build the heating pipes into concrete, or lay them onto existing steel ceiling structures, in essence repurposing old parts to create new benefits.”
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