ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN OF WALLSWhile the adepts of industrialization put the 'extravagances' tag on plastic architectural solutions, moldings (profiled architectural design elements) used for interior design have stayed popular in Europe and America. The use of three levels of architectural 'bars' is nearly a precondition for designing living rooms in English, Italian or American houses; these are the upper or crown rail, lower or base rail and chair rail, usually positioned at the chair hack top level. Typical details of interior include rosaces for chandeliers, balusters for stairs railing (pilasters) and order columns for more complex interiors. The trend for using architectural profiles in interiors is currently reviving in Ukraine. There are several reasons for these to be in fashion. First: it is impossible to create comfortable atmosphere and the interior that is pleasant and relaxing to look at without walls sectioning. Usually profiles should be installed in the unpleasant zones in a room causing psychological discomfort - these are planes change lines and lines of walls/floor/ceiling junction. However, even plane large area walls without sectioning may cause the feeling of monotony. Classical architecture traditions presuppose mandatory sectioning of the walls into "mirrors", highlighting certain wall fragments with pilasters or framing with thin profiles - panels. The panels may be rectangular or curved, and sometimes circular or oval. Paintings or additional relief decorations - cartouches and niches can be incorporated into the sequence of mirrors and pilasters. Sculptures are mounted into the niches framed with special profiles. However, it is a wrong belief that architectural accessories are exclusively pertinent to classical styles in architecture, such as Renaissance, Classicism, Baroque, or Empire. Designers working with modern interiors, i.e. which multi-level ceilings and complex curved walls, typical achieve the high quality only using special profiles for shaping the surface junctions and plane changes. The true architecture tolerates no sudden shape "leaps". It always should contain a nuance. And it is virtually impossible to create it just by means of flat compositions, e.g. using different paint colors. One should always remember about favorable effect of chiaroscuro visual perception. Perception of the interior changes as the sun moves along the horizon and as the weather changes, thus ensuring the lasting sense of novelty. Another reason for psychological comfort in the interiors using moldings is the binocular vision stereotype pertinent to humans. A man is pleased to see three-dimensional shapes. Due to full use of vision capabilities, a feeling of plastic richness of the interior originates. At last, tactile perception also matters - the possibility to feel the relief beauty with own fingers. Somehow or other, a system of architectural profiles is often used as the basis for prestigious interior design in the most expensive and luxurious interiors. In particular, this style is a must for designing the exclusive interiors in such world-famous premium hotels as Ritz, Four Seasons and Hyatt Regency, as well as elite class apartments and luxurious offices all over the world. There are also purely technological reasons for using the moldings. No matter what high technologies are used for construction of walls and partitions, it is virtually impossible to provide ideal junction of walls and ceiling, at the corners and at floor/wall joints. At all ages, architectural profiles allowed concealing the imperfections of wall finish and junctions. Architectural design elements used to be cut out of stone or cast out of gypsum. New ways of walls construction and finishing have leaded to the brand-new technologies of production and mounting of architectural elements to the walls. Really, it is not an easy task to provide reliable mounting of a heavy gypsum fascia on a lightweight gypsum board or on a false ceiling! |
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| Cornices | |
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| Panels | |
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| Corbels | |
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| Domes | |
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| Guirlandes | |
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| Wall Mouldings | |
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| Ceilings | |
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| Frames | |
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| Pilasters | |
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| Pedestals | |
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| Pediments | |
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| Niches | |
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| Columns Full | |
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| Columns Half | |
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| Columns Segmented | |
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| Lightings | |
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