This room makes me so happy. I have been dissatisfied, probably ever since I knew how to be dissatisfied, with drop-ceilings. The worst part is that I think it is not necessarily the drop-ceilings’ fault. It’s that no one cares about the underside of a shoebox lid. Many of our spaces end up being nothing more than mundane boxes, so why should we think of the ceiling?
Courtesy of ABWB & Associates
Well here, in the ‘Food Garden’ of South America and the southern hemisphere’s tallest building- the 300m Costanera Center Mall in Santiago, Chile- is a space with every possibility and precedent for being mundane, is a ceiling that thoroughly denies the possibility. The Digital Design Ceiling, by ABWB & Associates is composed of hundreds of laser-cut steel profiles, which add up to a delightful and fascinating undulating faux-surface.
Courtesy of ABWB & Associates
Occurring at regular intervals and returning back to the underlying structure at regular intervals, this ceiling is just the right amount of crazy. It is reminiscent of the nearby Andes Mountains, which lie just outside Santiago’s city limits. It gestures laterally, vertically, and suggestively. Covering the same functions of concealment and acoustic absorption as a drop-ceiling, it is at last 9 million times better.
