Designers are responding to this cultural shift away from the sterile and cold forms of Modernist Architecture toward the post-modern epoch of eclectic materials and non-modular shapes. Interior spaces are being designed using a wide variety of organic finishes, from unfinished stone, to natural fabrics, to wood.
Beyond being just a matter of aesthetic preference, Naisbitt suggested that unless high-tech can be counter-balanced with high-touch, human beings will reject new technology. Today we see the proliferation of high-touch elements in our culture—even as we pursue digital technology. The evidence is all around us, from the growth in popularity of aromatherapy, gourmet coffee, fine cigars, acoustic design in buildings, and in the use of natural materials in architecture. All of these are examples of an increased desire on people’s part for tactile experiences in a proliferating electronic world. Wood finishes are rich, warm and versatile, holding a unique place in the architectural palette.

A case for ceilings...
If wood represents an architect’s design medium, like paint to an artist, then let the ceiling surface represent a canvas. Dubbed the 3rd Surface (with floors and walls), ceilings uphold a unique place in architecture and interior design. This is because ceilings alone of the three surfaces have the possibility of monolithic treatment. The other surfaces are typically broken, covered or obstructed. The ceiling, however, is typically expansive… like a canvas.

Perhaps the ceiling represents the sky, a place of signs. (The etymology of ceiling derives from ceil, the Latin word for sky). Blue and sunny or gray and cloudy, the sky plays a fundamental role in the outdoor landscape. The same holds true for the ceiling in the interior designscape.

Brunelleschi's Dome, with its expansive ceiling, is credited with reinventing architecture.2 It is the feeling of volume, accented by choice-of-materials, that confer on the ceiling this unique, actually uplifting, role in the built environment.

The collaborative process of design unites designer and craftsman, architect and manufacturer. This process culminates in the execution of these designs, as we supply our operational and technical knowledge, in hand with expert ceiling contractors, to their installation. In the tradition of the guilds, 9Wood is a Master Fabricator. Our team has been helping designers bring these two elements successfully together—wood+ceilings—in a wide variety of custom designs for many years. We would like to help you realize your wood ceiling project—and fulfill John Naisbitt's prediction: high touch meets high-tech.