Ceilings: History and Purpose

A ceiling is the overhead surface or surfaces above a space, and the underside of a floor or a roof. Ceilings are mostly placed to hide floor and roof construction. They have been special places for decoration from the earliest periods: either by painting the plain surface, in bringing out the structural members of roof or floor, or by commandeering it as an area for an allover pattern of relief.

Little more than guesswork is proved of ancient Greek ceilings, but Roman ceilings were intricate with relief and painting, as is seen at the vault soffits of Pompeian baths. During the Gothic period, the general trend to use structural parts decoratively then adapted to the instigation of the beamed ceiling, for which huge cross-girders support smaller floor beams at right angles to them, beams and girders being thickly chamfered and molded and often painted in attractive colours.

In the Renaissance, ceiling design was moved to its highest tip of uniqueness and differentiation. Three options were developed. The first was the coffered ceiling, in the complex design of which the Italian Renaissance architects far exceeded their Roman prototypes. Circular, square, octagonal, and L-shaped coffers were created, with their edges ornately carved and the field of each coffer flourished with a rosette. The second type consisted of ceilings wholly or partially vaulted, commonly with arched intersections, with painted bands emphasizing the architectural design and with pictures covering the rest of the area. The loggia of the Farnesina villa in Rome, decorated by Raphael and Giulio Romano, is a great demonstration of this. During the Baroque period, amazing figures in heavy relief, scrolls, cartouches, and garlands were also brought in to decorate ceilings of this type. The Pitti Palace in Florence and many French ceilings in the Louis XIV style showcase this. In the third form, which was markedly found of Venice, the ceiling became one single framed painting, similar to the Doges’ Palace.

In modern architecture ceilings may be divided into two major kinds — the suspended (or hung) ceiling and the exposed ceiling. With ceilings hung at a distance underneath the structural members, some architects have decided to cover large amounts of mechanical and electrical equipment, such as electrical conduits, air-conditioning ducts, water pipes, sewage lines, and lighting fixtures. The large part of suspended ceilings feature a lightweight metal grid suspended from the structure by wires or rods to support plasterboard sheets or acoustical tiles.

Other architects, bringing out the aesthetic of the exposed structural system, take enjoyment in exposing the mechanical and electrical equipment. From this inclination, some structural systems have been created that have an expressive power in themselves and become admirable ceilings.

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