PACCAR Hall at University of Washington Foster School of Business

Some call the ceiling the ‘Forgotten 3rd Surface.’” – Paul Emmons What is a Ceiling?  A tent’s canvas is both roof and ceiling. Except in minimalist buildings, roof and ceiling are rarely the same surface (even modern tents separate the fly—its roof—from the inner shell and screen—its ceiling). In basic construction, rafters support the roof above while they are clad below to create a ceiling. In this construction the ceiling tracks the roof line; more commonly, ceilings lay flat, covering a room.   A ceiling, then, is the overhead surface of a …