This is a funny picture. That’s a partial panel over a ceiling cavity. Our space has these ceilings that are like upside-down egg cartons. Those cavities are concrete.
This was an area where a wall had existed (before we tore it down). The question I was facing here was: finish covering the cavity (to make it solid) or tear the board off (to make it open).
I thought I’d post on this because it’s one of those hundred of small design decisions that we face. It may seem small, but if I make the wrong decision on this little item I’ll start to re-shape the space. If I do that again and again we’ll end up with something that is either scattered or altogether different from what we want to achieve. But how do I know if I’m making the right decision?
I’ve come to a very simple approach on this, it’s not that different from my approach to moral decisions. I have underlying principles that I’m committed to, and I apply every decision to those. In this case we’re committed to authenticity, clarity, openness, and transparency. So the right thing to do was to let the space be what it wants to be, open. So we tore the panel out and brought it back to its original state.