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Ceiling

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Design Guidance

Overall Strategies

A ceiling in an office can either be open, dropped ceiling, or hard lid.

Ceiling Fans

Ceiling fans can offer occupants the ability to control ambient comfort without making adjustments to the room, zone, or building mechanical system. This provides potential energy savings. Use of ceiling fans in some environments can also minimize the use of the building mechanical system, especially when paired with operable windows in temperate seasons or climates.

Best Practices

  • Use acoustical ceiling tiles with high Noise Reduction Coefficients (NRC) to reduce noise pollution and allow for ease of access to the plenum space for maintenance.
  • Use light-colored ceiling tiles to reflect daylight to allow natural light to effectively move throughout the space.
  • Evaluate sustainable attributes such as regional manufacturing, recycled content, and low VOC to determine the most appropriate materials to use for a sustainable ceiling.
  • Drop down soffits and accent lights decorate the space, however these features are resource intensive, use these strategies conservatively.
  • Use acoustical ceiling tiles with high Noise Reduction Coefficients (NRC) to reduce reverberation time and improve speech intelligibility for occupant comfort.

Compare Ceiling Options

EB = Existing BuildingsNC = New Construction and Major Renovation

Federal Requirements

Guiding Principles