Wood ceiling installation at Natural Grocers in Boise, Idaho with 9Wood 1100 Cross Piece Grille.

Ravinia Festival Dining Pavilion wood ceiling installation in 2012.

This performing arts center, at a private university in California, incorporated an innovative design that strikingly emphasizes the natural beauty of wood, while creating an excellent and easily controlled acoustic space. This was achieved using tightly spaced grille members formed into curving sections. Computer acoustic modeling provided an optimal shape for the individual members: only 1/2” wide and 11/16” deep. Sound passes easily through this grille lattice where it is absorbed by adjustable acoustic curtains. The architect claims this design “is the current, cutting edge of acoustics in the world.”

From a design standpoint, however, the ceiling presented significant challenges. The curving suspension of the panels had to be coordinated with the curtain tracks, as well as lighting, sprinkler, and speaker penetrations – a task made even more complicated by the changing heights of the different ceiling sections. Our engineering department created a comprehensive three-dimensional model of the entire ceiling, designed to fit into the larger building model—ensuring that the ceiling design would work with the HVAC, lighting, sprinkler, and other systems. The results were spectacular: The ceiling fit perfectly with the other systems, and was completed on schedule and on budget.

Coordination wasn’t the only design challenge. A common attachment method for curved grille panels is to use thin, flexible metal strips to attach the wood members to standard T-Grid. The loud music of the performing arts center could have caused the wood to rattle against the metal backers. In order to avoid this problem, we devised a unique solution: flexible backers made from Medium Density Fiberboard. The MDF backers were designed to be strong enough to support the ceiling load, flexible enough to allow the ceiling to curve, and soft enough to allow the members to be cinched tight against the backers, preventing any rattle.

The result of a well-coordinated design process, innovative attachment methods, and the natural beauty of wood is a wonderful and striking ceiling in the performing arts center, adding to the pleasure of students and community members alike. As the owner asserts, “Everyone has just been thrilled. It’s been unusual for me; it’s been a true collaboration. Everybody wanted to build a great building, but to make it all come together – wow! Satisfaction is very high.”

When presented with a highly detailed, undulating ceiling geometry for the new UCLA Sproul Complex, the in-house drafting department at 9Wood considered it a worthy challenge. With over 13,000 square feet of FSC Western Hemlock intersecting at several different angles, advanced coordination was the key to providing the subcontractor with an engineered-to-order solution.

The project manager at 9Wood recalled that the lead drafter created a custom, 3D wireframe model of the ceiling space to review intersections and suspension challenges. This design went through several iterations as the building evolved and updates came available.

Not only was the ceiling complex by design, but it needed to remain accessible throughout the entire space. A torsion spring system was integrated into the Hemlock grille panels to ensure a stable installation while allowing maintenance access to the plenum. The architect had opted for a staggered panel layout, instead of standard bays of wood panels. This design required several onsite meetings with the subcontractor to ensure that everyone was on the same page regarding the layout of each area.

There were also areas where the wood was to be tightly integrated with an adjoining metal ceiling. In order to accentuate this combination, 9Wood provided a custom panel fabrication for the perimeter. For an eleven foot long panel with six wood members, only three of them would span the full length. The other three would stop five feet from the end of the panel, creating an intersection between the two ceilings that appears to phase them together. Rather than having a harsh divide between man-made and natural materials, the longer wood members float underneath the beginning of the metal ceiling. The result is a more organic transition between the two areas, one that accentuates the design of both products.

The Sproul project represents the challenges and benefits of complex architectural design, as well as the custom manufacturing solutions required to implement them. 9Wood’s focus on providing quality products that perform well on the jobsite really shines through as you walk through the space.