The particularization of surfaces by material texture, color and character takes place on ceilings as well. Ceilings are the fifth elevation, a surface of importance both as backdrop to the elevations and as character-defining in itself. We have come to cherish the way a glossy ceiling plane such as that at The Modern picks up and reproduces the action taking place below, at the same time defining the territory of the room. As the lights dim and the contrast of the rough and smooth surfaces becomes more pronounced, the shiny surface becomes darker, picking up the color and light intensity of what is below it while the adjacent matte surfaces trap light and become luminous background for the dark floating plane. Through these subtle material differentiations and their related reactions to light, the lower ceiling plane opens up visually, conveying spatial infinity. The reflected movement of people and the flickering of light amplifies the inherent energy of the space. The perimeters of the ceiling planes at The Modern, highlighted by their physical separation and their material distinction, also mark the limits of territories below and imply the thresholds between one area and another, allowing the viewers to position themselves in the restaurant and the Museum. As noted above, threshold is important to us as a device of place-making. At the Modern, changes in a floor material, the lowering of a ceiling, an important piece of furniture, the sudden but controlled opening-up of a vista are cues to a spatial transition from outside to inside and, once inside, from one area to another. The acoustical properties of a space are no less an aspect of its material presence than stone, metal and glass and can work as effectively to support a larger design goal. Sound has an unquestionable impact on one's perception of space. To control it we recognize its source as energy and deploy materials for acoustical comfort as well as color and texture. This is evident in our use of acoustically porous wood fiber plank in the ceilings of restaurants such as Craft and Toku that deadens high-pitched sound while providing visual texture. Generally, we strive for 70 percent of the interior surfaces to be acoustically absorbent. The potential for acoustically absorbent materials to tangibly influence our perception of space is given by the kitchen threshold at The Modern, a vomitory formed by canted walls that audibly disconnects one room from the other without a spatial barrier. To walk to the other side of the thick wall is to be transported across an invisible sound barrier that contains the back-of-house areas. Articulation For us, the articulation of physical features — of a material palette, through categories of objects, between dissimilar spaces — is nothing less than the developed expression of the design concepts governing place-making and materials. It is evident in the development of detail, the resolution of connections between parts as well as their precise juxtaposition, whether separated by a few inches or
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