Last week I caught the end of the Ron Thom exhibition at Toronto’s Gardiner Museum. Thom was a great architect – a deep care for craft, detail, and materials – who created incredible warm, peaceful spaces like Massey College. One thing I didn’t notice until my friend pointed it out was that Thom’s attention to a whole space continued to his treatment of ceilings. Ceilings are pretty overlooked in contemporary architecture, and are often boring. But Thom’s ceilings, like Frank Lloyd Wright’s and so many other builders and architects of the past, were vital parts of their designs. My previous post about a proposed Vancouver viaduct grotto reminded me of some incredible images of mosque ceilings I’ve seen. Particularly older ones in the Middle East and Spain like those pictures above are stunning. Obviously in a mosque, where it’s a metaphor for the divine, the ceiling will be interesting if not intricate. But beyond those spaces, ceilings have really exciting potential for thoughtful design. I’m into it.
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