Ceiling Technology and Aesthetics

Innovative ways to boost performance while adding color and pattern
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Sponsored by Hunter Douglas Contract
C.C. Sullivan

“For interiors, this means an unprecedented range of design choices,” says Kuperus. “Every architect now effectively has access to a vast, digital design library of thousands of colors—including color-matching to any major paint manufacturer—as well as a wide range of optical textures and surface patterns, at a reasonable cost.”

Recent projects employing these industrial techniques have included a University of Cincinnati facility, Heritage Hall, where images were “printed on” a ceiling system, according to creative director Brian Weatherford of Perkins+Will Eva Maddox Branded Environments, which consulted to the architect Bernard Tschumi.

“Originally we thought we might apply film so that the images would be changeable,” Weatherford explains. “But because the ceilings are perforated with an acoustical backing, we said, 'What if we print right on the ceiling panels instead?'” The sepia-toned imagery, which touts the university's sports and academic programs, is a major design feature in an impressive four-story atrium.

Ceiling systems can be specified for green building projects, including LEED for Schools, by considering the contribution to energy performance, recycled content, material reuse, and indoor environmental quality (IEQ).

Image courtesy of Hunter Douglas Contract

Technology, Performance, and Sustainability

One of the challenges of these projects is determining the impact of the printed or colored ceiling on project sustainability. At the University of Cincinnati, for example, the printed ceiling system was made of up to 95 percent recycled materials and would provide a good level of light reflectance. The product was considered durable and resilient, including the images themselves, which resist fading and discoloration. In addition, the manufacturing process would minimize resource consumption over the project life cycle and limit VOCs introduced in the building.

With all this evidence, it still may seem that the impact of a ceiling solution on an assessment of sustainability is indirect and not immediate; the ramifications may not seem especially significant when compared to the impact of MEP systems or enclosure design, for example.

In fact, ceiling systems can be specified for adequate or even superior sustainability without creating a burden for the designer, contractor or client. Ceilings are integral to proper lighting, conditioning and environment, and should be considered as much a target for sustainable design as any building system.

As a general guideline, LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) delineates three categories in which a ceiling system may impact green building goals:

Energy & Atmosphere: EA Credits 1.1-4 (Optimize Energy Performance) can be affected by a ceiling system choice, in large part because of its interaction with lighting and HVAC systems. Properly designed and constructed suspended ceilings, for example, play a role in limiting the conditioned space required for a building interior.

Materials & Resources: The specified ceiling should meet goals for recycled content, recyclable collection, regional materials, and renewables. Where possible, materials reuse is possible—for example by reconditioning or simply reusing a ceiling grid with new panels, which is increasingly common. Other areas for MR credit include construction waste management—which may be eased by using an engineered ceiling system rather than a fully site-built assembly—and optimization for intended use of the space by the likely tenant.

IEQ: Sustainable design promotes occupant health (and the health of the construction crew) as much as it reduces environmental impact. A ceiling system can impact occupants in the areas of ventilation, VOC emissions, lighting and thermal system control, thermal comfort, use of daylight for natural illumination, and optimization of outdoor view availability.

One aspect of IEQ not covered by all LEED requirements is nevertheless very important for occupant health and comfort: acoustics. Often the impact of acoustical performance is more easily measurable in occupant productivity or welfare than in direct effect upon health. But even performance is tied to sustainability: An interior environment that impacts its occupants negatively in any way is, by definition, unsustainable.

Energy & Atmosphere

The most recent major industry study on the effect of ceiling design on energy use came from the Ceilings & Interior Systems Construction Association (CISCA) in 2008. Conducted by Barry Donaldson & Associates, the study compared life-cycle analyses of continuous ceilings versus open-plenum environments; the results indicated that while construction costs for suspended ceilings were generally higher, the simple payback could be as fast as seven months in some retail applications or 3.5 years in some office and commercial applications, depending on factors such as climate, construction cost, and energy cost.

What's more, the life-cycle payback analysis proved to be positive: as low as nine months for retail and five years for office buildings. Only in Chicago did the life-cycle payback period stretch to greater than 10 years. CISCA's study suggests some reasons that suspended ceilings may create long-term savings:

  1. Suspended ceilings systems use “a return-air plenum with lower static pressures and fan horsepower” rather than ducted air returns.
  2. Return-air plenums are more efficient at removing heat from lights, reducing the air conditioning load.
  3. Suspended ceilings boast higher light reflectance values than other ceiling types, meaning lower energy costs for space illumination, all things equal.

 

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Originally published in Architectural Record
Originally published in October 2012

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