A second trend involves manufacturing advances supporting the use of visual effects on ceiling panels. In addition to more precise assemblies, there have been more curved and articulated shapes that still conform to a regular grid of square or rectangular supports. In addition, the emergence of mass customization has exploited flexible, computer-aided manufacturing systems to produce individualized, custom output while still keeping unit costs low.

Mass customization is based on methods for “effectively postponing the task of differentiating a product for a specific customer until the latest possible point in the supply network,” as explained in Operations Management for Competitive Advantage (McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2006).

With a growing belief that ceilings can contribute more to interior architecture—and with supplier processes that support the need—today more architects are adding color and pattern to ceilings, wall panels and other surfaces.

Rediscovering Ceiling Color and Pattern

Beyond its performance in the physics of sound, light and air, ceilings are vital aesthetic elements in architecture. Since Michelangelo finished painting the vaults of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City in the fall of 1512, architects have looked for ways to encourage visitors of their buildings to look upward, as if to the heavens, for inspiration and enjoyment. On today's ceiling surfaces, that often means applied colors, textures, patterns, and special lighting fixtures. As the architect Jack Diamond, principal at Diamond and Schmitt Architects of Toronto, has said, once the project team has established the objectives for a building project, “Colors and textures become an integral means of achieving design ends.”

In Michelangelo's day, paint was a common treatment for ceilings, and that remained true for centuries. For suspended grids and tiles, however, paint may not be ideal. Though custom matching colors are frequently applied on the jobsite rather than in the factory—mainly because the majority of ceiling systems are stocked only in white—painting an acoustical surface changes its noise reduction coefficient (NRC) and ceiling attenuation class (CAC) properties. The coatings may also introduce VOCs and other chemicals into the indoor environment. Architects must proceed with care.

Many suspended acoustical ceilings offer low-VOC formulations for their panel components, binders, glues, coloring agents, and metal profiles, which benefits indoor air quality (IAQ). Image courtesy of Hunter Douglas Contract

As an alternative, ceiling panels are now manufactured with factory-applied color, patterning, and either optical or tactile textures. This brings a few benefits to sustainable design: First, less energy and coloring agent and fewer resources are expended—in some cases, up to 25 times less pigmentation material by volume or weight. Second, a significant portion of the VOCs or toxins are captured in a controlled industrial environment. Third, in many cases there is greater range of application technique and effect at the factory or shop—in other words, greater design flexibility and more surface presentations for the architect to choose from.