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New Shapes for Workspace | |
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Constructing Osaka Art | |
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New Shapes for Workspace Glass or acrylic walls provide an inexpensive, yet attractive way to separate spaces. Glass, which can be treated to have any translucency from transparent to opaque, is not only functional but can create an illusion of spatial continuity. Glass is also an excellent accent material. Textured gypsum board can add drama. Laminates, vinyl, and resins integrate well with natural materials for countertops, partitions, ceilings, and flooring. Patterned or textured aluminum and uniquely shaped metals, including steel, copper, aluminum, and brass, can be polished, etched, or sandblasted to alter the finished appearance. Curved walls, partitions, floors, and ceilings can also bring life to bland, rectangular spaces. Simple interiors give a quiet elegance while strong materials such as stone, metal, or wood create a strong, solid effect. Overhead Movements Ceilings in offices are no longer just for concealing HVAC ducts and light fixtures. They can also function as important space-defining elements. "Signature" ceilings, especially three-dimensional ones, have become more common everywhere from lobbies to boardrooms. Whatever the setting, ceiling component manufacturers offer a variety of custom looks at affordable prices. Corporate ceilings need not be bland, white, and flat but instead they can become the dramatic focal point of a room. Using dynamic shapes, diverse materials, attractive colors, and creative lighting, designers are experimenting with a variety of three-dimensional ceilings. These include domes and barrel-vaulted drywall ceilings, suspended ceilings, and open-celled and plastic dropped ceilings. They can be made of wood, metal, or plastic in many shapes and translucencies. Not only can these specialty ceilings add drama to monotonous office landscapes, they can help solve practical design dilemmas, such as balancing the scale of a space or making transitions between different ceiling heights. Multiple ceiling styles may be incorporated in a single space to distinguish functional areas, to direct traffic flow, or to establish a sense of simultaneous freedom and privacy for cubicle arrangements. Ceiling manufacturers such as USG Interiors, Inc. and Chicago Metallic have created customizable three-dimensional ceiling styles. These include multiple-layer styles, islands, undulating patterns, and plastic, steel or wire mesh. One new USG ceiling style, TOPO, transforms flat ceiling planes into undulating and colorful landscapes. This ceiling system consists of preformed translucent and opaque infill panels installed in a complex-curved suspension system. Despite the unusual forms and customizability, these systems can be installed quickly and economically. Acoustical Concerns When deciding which acoustical ceiling panels are best suited for a particular office setting, designers must consider whether the space requires speech privacy, intelligibility, or low distractions. In open office landscapes, the goal is generally to reduce speech intelligibility, thus increasing acoustical privacy for cubicle workers. Open floor plans should include ceilings with a high level of sound control in order to reduce reflected sounds from nearby cubicles. Even when partitions extend to the ceiling, sound can still travel to the top, through ductwork, and back down to the next office. To inhibit rather than transmit this sound, ceiling panels are now available with high sound transmission loss ratings, such as a ceiling attenuation class of 35 or higher, and with moderate sound absorption ratings, such as a noise reduction coefficient of .55 to .70. New advances in sound masking are also helping to improve privacy in open environments by making sound less noticeable. Lencore Acoustics Corp., one of the leading pioneers in sound-masking systems, offers software that analyzes the spatial and temporal uniformity of sound for sound masking. It generates a privacy index report that identifies how the sound masking will perform in a particular setting. Lighting Options Daylight is not only more desirable than electrical lighting but has been shown to improve workers' productivity. So many companies are eager to open blocked windows in existing buildings and to include as many windows as possible in new office designs. Where daylight is not an option, indirect electrical lighting can create a softer, more soothing ambience and can lessen glare on computer screens. Many of the new specialty ceilings accommodate recessed and indirect light fixtures, with light becoming part of the ceiling's artistic expression. Indirect lighting systems can improve acoustics as well. Because the ceiling plane is not interrupted by fixtures, the ceiling panels can absorb sound more uniformly. Green Building "Green" building is one of the leading issues in architectural design today. Designers and building owners are becoming increasingly motivated to provide an environmentally friendly environment and to use materials that conform to sustainability standards such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Savvy building product manufacturers are responding to this interest by creating environmentally friendly products and materials. USG, for example, is producing ceilings, wall panels, and flooring underlayments from recycled materials. The building product supply chain will continue to adapt to emerging sensibilities, to produce more products that solve several problems at once: creating dynamic, healthy spaces while providing comfortable, productive acoustics and lighting. Discuss this article in the Architecture Forum... Colleen Lyman is a freelance writer who resides in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She writes frequently about residential and commercial building design for USG Corporation, a leading manufacturer of ceiling systems and building products.
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