March 13, 2018

LTL Architects Sculpts Futuristic Ceiling at Historic Columbia University Lecture Hall

Above the fumed oak herringbone floor, the multipurpose hall’s ceiling forms mimic sound waves, the longest housing a cinema-quality projector. Photography by Michael Moran/Otto.

Six architects, led by Paul Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and David Lewis

100 coffers

Twenty coffer sizes

4 1/2 feet length of longest coffer

5 months of fabrication

For the custom ceiling coffers at the Joseph D. Jamail Lecture Hall at the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York, panels of acoustical EzoBord, made from recycled water bottles, were mitered together via a CNC oscillating knife in the Brooklyn workshop of Situ Fabrication.
Model of the ceiling coffers at the Joseph D. Jamail Lecture Hall at the Columbia University School of Journalism.
The longer of the resulting coffers were fitted with HVAC and technical components.
The coffers were then brought on-site to the school’s 1913 McKim, Mead & White building, mounted to an existing steel armature.
Sketch of the ceiling coffers at the Joseph D. Jamail Lecture Hall at the Columbia University School of Journalism.
Track-mounted theatrical LEDs supplement the diffuse-panel LEDs capping the coffers.

> See more from the March 2018 issue of Interior Design

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