Design Details: Pre-Engineered Trims and Transitions

Pre-engineered trim and transition options can be used to address changes in elevation, geometry, or material type. Transitions are available that make acoustical panels to drywall, as well as geometric shifts, such as from a rectangular office to a curved hallway, fast and easy to detail and build. Pre-engineered transitions eliminate excess framing, provide consistent fit and finish, and allow for quality control, while reducing the time required detailing and specifying. These transition solutions are designed precisely to fit with a variety of ceiling panel types and suspension systems. Unique curves and shapes as well as crisp detailing are easily duplicated throughout an entire project. Pre-engineered steel and extruded aluminum transitions use significantly less framing to structure and eliminate interferences in the plenum that can reduce the construction schedule, minimizing risk and ensuring design intent. These transitions are often tested to meet the same codes as standard transitions, including seismic requirements, and are available in a wide variety of standard and custom colors.

engineered Shade Pockets EPCORE TOWER, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

The Design Need: The project architect was looking for a clean, integrated installation between the acoustical ceiling system and the shade pockets that surrounded the interior perimeter of the 28-story glass office building that overlooked downtown Edmonton.

The Solution: Nearly 21,000 lineal feet of integrated shade pockets were installed. The pre-engineered system features an extruded aluminum pocket that bridges the transition between the interior of a building’s perimeter and the ceiling plane. The pocket also accommodates a T-bar connection clip and splice plate to provide a mechanical lock to an acoustical or drywall grid system with no visible fasteners. Claude Bachand, co-owner of Alpine Drywall, explained that his firm presented mockups of various perimeter treatments to the architects, and the pre-engineered pocket solution was selected. He also explains that this is the first time his firm has installed the system. The reason: significant time and labor savings. Bachand says the crews normally would have used traditional drywall transition methods, including framing, boarding, taping, mudding, sanding, and painting. However, the perimeter system is far less labor intensive because it replaces all of those steps. “We found that by eliminating all those steps, the shade pocket system was four times faster than a traditional drywall pocket,” Bachand states. “We were able to install it in a quarter of the time. Once in place, the system requires no finishing, which makes a big difference.” The pocket can be installed in one of two ways, either directly to a wall or free floating. “The building has a curtain wall system so we couldn’t attach it to the exterior wall,” explains Alpine Co-Owner Grant Laplante. “It had to be floating.” Describing this reaction to the perimeter system, Laplante states that the architect, owner, and crew were all impressed with the look of the pocket. “They liked it because installation was so much easier and so much cleaner.”

Photos courtesy of Armstrong Commercial Ceiling Solutions

Epcore Tower Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Photos courtesy of Armstrong Commercial Ceiling Solutions

Kasian Architecture Interior Design and Planning LTD Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Design Details: Integrated Shade Pockets for Acoustical and Drywall Ceilings

Traditionally, ceilings (either acoustical or drywall), shade pockets, and shades require coordination between multiple trades, potentially leading to lengthier construction schedules and poor fit and finish. Pre-engineered extruded aluminum pocket and shade options provide seamless integration between a variety of acoustical and drywall ceiling types, making specification simpler and installation faster and easier, while eliminating additional trade coordination and reducing ceiling construction schedules by 50 percent or more. Pre-engineered shade pocket options also allow consistent quality control at the building perimeter, reducing time required to detail and specify. They can also be customized in depth and dimension to work with almost any popular shade option you might choose.

Monolithic Ceiling Design Greenway Group, Atlanta, Georgia

The Design Need:
Create an office space that provides a functional working environment, while removing the clutter in the ceiling plane. Greenway Group, an Atlanta-based consulting company that advises some of the country’s preeminent architectural and design firms, desired a ceiling that matched the contemporary look and feel of its new office space and eliminated traditional lighting integration issues, such as tall fixture housings and ceiling height specification difficulties.

The Solution:
A ceiling system was installed that integrated and organized narrow light fixtures, air diffusers, and sprinkler heads into a compact linear zone that visually coordinated with large-scale, fine-textured ceiling panels. The system eliminated the need for cluttered penetrations in the acoustical ceiling panels, making fixtures more streamlined as well as easier to service and maintain. This provides a very clean, custom look that coordinates with the space, even though it used standard components and installation methods.

Photos courtesy of Armstrong Commercial Ceiling Solutions

Greenway Group, Atlanta, Georgia DAG Architects, Destin, Florida Ceiling system with compact linear zones for light fixtures and diffusers

Design Details: Monolithic Ceiling Design

Traditional suspended ceiling systems are often riddled with lighting, HVAC, sprinklers, and other visual “nose” break points, disrupting the appearance of the ceiling plane and the design of the space. Integrated ceiling solutions offer the ability to organize layouts to reduce visual clutter and integrate lighting, air diffusers, and other accessories, such as sprinkler systems into “zones” as narrow as 4 inches wide.

Photo courtesy of Armstrong Commercial Ceiling Solutions

Ceiling system with compact linear zones for light fixtures

Some ceiling manufacturers prequalify lighting fixtures from partner companies for fit and finish. This option makes designing and installing a customized, integrated ceiling and lighting layout using standard ceiling panels and suspension systems faster and easier.

Integrating linear lighting fixtures in a symmetrical, on-center continuous, or non-continuous layout can also be done using factory-finished or made-to-order ceiling panels and suspension systems. Wall-to-wall and cloud or canopy LED light fixtures can now be easily installed without independent suspension, and comply with IBC Seismic Design Categories (SDCs) D, E, and F for areas with high or very high seismic vulnerability.

There are six SDCs ranging from A to F. Structures posing minimal seismic risk are assigned as an SDC A, and structures posing the highest seismic risk are assigned an SDC F category. As a structure’s potential seismic risk increases, as represented by the Seismic Design Category, the NEHRP Recommended Seismic Provisions requires progressively more rigorous seismic design and construction as a means of attempting to ensure that all buildings provide an acceptable risk to the public. According to the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), structures are assigned to a Seismic Design Category based on the severity of ground shaking and other earthquake effects the structure may experience and the nature of the structure’s occupancy and use.