News

May 17, 2023

Exposed Ceiling Beams Don't Have to Be Rustic

By Lindsey Mather In Palma, a resort town on the Spanish island of Majorca, wood

By Lindsey Mather

In Palma, a resort town on the Spanish island of Majorca, wood is not easy to come by. Considering that Aina Salva and Alberto Sanchez, founders of local firm SMS Arquitectos, planned to build a second-floor extension on their house, this presented a serious challenge. How would they build the necessary ceiling support structure? Realistically, they would have to outsource the carpentry to mainland Spain, so they went on the hunt for the closest plywood manufacturer. They found one in the northern part of the country who had a CNC router, which they could use to cut the precise pieces they needed out of standard 4' x 8' plywood sheets.

The unstained plywood pops against the green kitchen cabinets.

Rather than hide the ceiling supports under drywall, Aina and Alberto chose to leave them exposed. Using plywood (rather than old, rustic timber) for the beams gave the design refreshing modern vibes right off the bat, but they took it one step further, adding angled geometric plywood "ornaments," as they call them, periodically between the joists. "We worked on several prototypes and built various options until we reached the optimum design," says Alberto. "The final design of the ceiling had to minimize waste and at the same time present a load-bearing capacity according to its use."

The playful plywood ceiling is clearly kid-approved.

All of the pieces were prefabricated off-site using the manufacturer's CNC router, then assembled at the house. Once the beams were up, the process for adding the decorative elements was quite simple, according to Alberto—notches had been cut into the wood so the pieces would fit together like a puzzle. The duo elaborate about the design in their press release about the project: "The lack of finishes shows the structural geometry of the ceiling, linking it to arabesque ornamentation of the old town of Palma." See? Ceiling beams can be inspired by the old, but still look so very new.