Drywall does a lot of things well. It’s fast, it’s cheap relative to alternatives, and it’s familiar enough that almost any contractor can work with it. In a standard commercial build, it’s often the right call. High-end hospitality is not a standard commercial build. Hotels, restaurants, private clubs, and entertainment venues operate under a different […]

glass fiber reinforced cement or glass fiber reinforced gypsum, that first project tends to arrive one of a few ways: However it arrives, the specifier is now looking at a material category they haven’t written a spec for before. The design intent is clear. The path from intent to compliant specification is less so. This […]

Balustrades are one of the most visually prominent elements on a building’s exterior. A well-executed balustrade system — along a terrace, a staircase, a balcony, or an entrance plaza — communicates quality and permanence in a way few other architectural details can. It also, depending on the material, creates significant complications around weight, installation, maintenance, […]

One of the questions that comes up regularly when architects and contractors are evaluating materials for a project is what happens if something goes wrong after installation. Structural panels get impacted during construction. Decorative elements ship across the country and occasionally arrive with a corner chipped. A ceiling dome in a commercial renovation takes a […]

Older buildings with plaster domes represent some of the most impressive interior architecture in existence. The craftsmanship involved in constructing a traditional plaster dome — the scaffolding, the skilled plasterers, the layering process that could take months — produced results that have lasted generations in the best cases. But plaster is not a permanent material, […]

Ceiling medallions have a long history in architectural design. For centuries they served as the focal point of significant interior spaces — the ornamental ring around a chandelier in a grand hotel ballroom, the decorative rosette crowning a dome in a civic building, the repeated detail element that tied a vaulted ceiling together. The design […]

Light coves are one of those architectural details that can transform a space. When done well, they create ambient lighting that makes rooms feel larger, ceilings appear higher, and spaces more inviting. The soft, indirect glow from a properly designed light cove adds sophistication that visible fixtures can’t match. But light coves only deliver that […]

Development projects involving hundreds of repetitive architectural elements face a specific challenge. Your BIM model shows intricate ceiling coffering across 15,000 square feet of lobby space. Your structural engineer calculates load limits for the mezzanine columns. Your MEP team maps out HVAC and electrical runs that conflict with your ceiling design, and your general contractor […]

Columns are structural necessities in many commercial and residential buildings, but exposed structural columns – whether steel, concrete, or wood – are rarely attractive. They’re functional, but they don’t contribute to the architectural vision of a space. In fact, they often detract from it. Column covers solve this problem by transforming utilitarian structural elements into […]