Ceilings: History and Purpose
A ceiling is the overhead surface or surfaces over a space, and the underside of a floor or a roof. Ceilings are commonly utilized to hide floor and roof construction. They have been favourite spaces for decoration from the earliest eras: either in coating the plain surface, in bringing out the structural members of roof or floor, or in dedicating it as a surface for an overall pattern of relief.
Only a little is known of ancient Greek ceilings, but Roman ceilings were intricate with relief as well as painting, as is found within the vault soffits of Pompeian baths. During the Gothic period, the widespread tendency to bring out structural elements decoratively then gave rise to the instigation of the beamed ceiling, in which sizeable cross-girders support smaller floor beams at right angles to them, beams and girders being richly chamfered and molded and commonly painted in decorative colours.
In the Renaissance, ceiling design was adapted to its highest tip of uniqueness and difference. Three kinds were further elaborated. The first was the coffered ceiling, in the intricate design of which the Italian Renaissance architects far exceeded their Roman prototypes. Circular, square, octagonal, and L-shaped coffers were created, with their edges intricately carved and the field of every coffer flourished with a rosette. The second type consisted of ceilings entirely or somewhat vaulted, commonly with arched intersections, with painted bands emphasizing the architectural design and with pictures covering the remainder of the area. The loggia of the Farnesina villa in Rome, decorated by Raphael and Giulio Romano, is a great example of this. In the Baroque period, fantastic figures in heavy relief, scrolls, cartouches, and garlands were also brought in to decorate ceilings of this kind. The Pitti Palace in Florence and many French ceilings in the Louis XIV style showcase this. In the third type, which was markedly coined of Venice, the ceiling became a large framed painting, as in the Doges’ Palace.
In contemporary architecture ceilings may be divided into two major types — the suspended (or hung) ceiling and the exposed ceiling. With ceilings hung at a distance underneath the structural members, some architects have worked to cover large amounts of mechanical and electrical equipment, such as electrical conduits, air-conditioning ducts, water pipes, sewage lines, and lighting fixtures. Most suspended ceilings have a lightweight metal grid suspended from the structure by wires or rods to support plasterboard sheets or acoustical tiles.
Other architects, featuring the aesthetic of the exposed structural system, delight in revealing the mechanical and electrical equipment. Due to this design, many structural systems have been created that have a deliberate power in themselves and make desirable ceilings.
For ceiling cleaning Brisbane contact Toxicvac today. We will clean ceilings and clean roofspaces to remove rubbish, old insulation and dirt.
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