‘Suspended Refrain’ at Mingei - a ceiling devoted to the craft of music

The brief was to create a suspended ceiling that would house/hide mechanical and electrical systems, provide acoustic value to a busy ground floor of the museum and speak to the ethos of art for all; the Mingei philosophy and meaning. As architect for the project, LUCE was tapped into the sense of movement that would be present in the space; a cacophony of uses including a museum shop, plaza entry and café restaurant. The ceiling panels, hung in a natural camber over these spaces depicts a special artform of craft; that of music. The pattern of early 20th century piano player rolls is the theme for celebrating music and playing with movement. Not unlike earlier work of our studio, meaning is embedded in the pattern and its materiality (the cadence of musical notes) and yet here, once again, a universal freedom of interpretation is present…is it depicting a fortran card or morse code? The understanding is generational; sometimes cultural and yet the intrigue is universal. This ceiling panel, as simple as its original intent was, brings to lite the human sensation of the CRAFT of musical composition.