THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE 03

and early 19th-century American paintings depict rural interiors

that often look remarkably similar.

Module 11
FURNITURE,
ELEMENTS

FURNISHINGS

AND

OTHER

INTERIOR

FURNSHINGS, The instrumentalities (furniture and appliances

and other movable accessories including curtains and rugs) that
make a home (or other area) livable.

Furniture
Carpet

Rugs

Draperies and curtains

Shades, shutters and blinds

Lighting elements

FURNITURE, the usually movable articles in a room that equip it

for use. The most common pieces of furniture are beds, chairs,
tables, and chests.

FURNITURE: Materials and Design

Historically, the most common material for making furniture has
been wood, but other materials, such as metal and stone, have
also been used. Furniture designs have reflected the fashion of
every era from ancient times to the present. Whereas in most
periods a single style dominated, a wide variety of old and new
styles influences current design. Some of the most highly prized
pieces of furniture used in contemporary homes, however, are
antiquespieces anywhere from 50 to 300 or more years old.
Today the most astute designers are eclectic, and furniture ranges
from innovative designs to adaptations of historical models for
special needs, including carefully made reproductions based on
early examples.
Even the basic requirements of furniture design are complex, for
appearance has always been as important as function, and the
general tendency has been to design furniture to complement
architectural interiors. Indeed, some furniture forms were
conceived architecturally, with legs designed as columns; others
were at least in part anthropomorphic, with legs in animal forms.
Furniture design ranges from simple to elaborate, depending on
the pieces intended use rather than on the period in which they
were made. The earliest records, such as ancient Mesopotamian
inventories, describe richly decorated interiors with gold cloth and
gilded furniture. Some surviving ancient Egyptian examples are
elaborate and were originally sheathed in gold, but many very
plain pieces were also made in ancient times. In the history of
furniture, however, the elegant work takes precedence because in
general it has been the best preserved. In addition, elaborate
designs reveal the most about a period because high style
changes more frequently than other styles to reflect new ideas.
The simplest work, made for the farmer or laborer, tends to be
more purely functional and timeless; tables and chairs used by
working people in 1800 BC are surprisingly like tables and chairs
in farmhouses of AD 1800. Dutch genre paintings of the 1600s

CLASSIC: 18th Century

Classic: 19th and 20th Century

Plaster & gypsum board

Gypsum - a common white or colorless mineral
(hydrated calcium sulphate) used to make cements and
plasters (especially plaster of Paris)

Cement render
Ceramic tile, quarry tile, pavers, mosaic
Glazed Wall Tile
Traditional bright and matte glazed wall tile has been
supplemented with tile of variegated appearance.
Textured, sculptured, embossed, and engraved surface
characteristics are coupled with accent designs.
Imported tile has increased in availability, and it offers a
wide range of variation from the native materials used
in the manufacturing process as well as the process
itself. Tile from Germany, France, Italy, Mexico,
Switzerland, Austria, Brazil, and Spain currently are
represented in manufacturer's literature.
Ceramic Mosaic Tile
Ceramic mosaic tile may be either natural clay or
porcelain in composition. Special abrasive or slipresistant surfaces and conductive tile are available only
in 1 in. x 1 in. size.

Contemporary Furniture

Mosaic - Art consisting of a design made of

small pieces of colored stone or glass.
Quarry and Paver Tile

Quarry and paver tile may be natural clay, shale, or

porcelain in composition. These tile are characterized
by their natural earth-tone coloration, high compressive
strength, and slip and stain resistance. They are
recommended for interior and exterior applications.
Acoustic ceiling, coffered ceiling
Wall Treatment
1.

USE: Sound absorption.

2.
MATERIALS: Fabric-wrapped glass fiber or
mineral wool.
3.

N.R.C.: .55.85

4.
NOTES: Wall panels may be used
individually or grouped to form an entire wall system.
Noise reduction coefficient varies with material
thickness and acoustical transparency of fabric facing.
Maximum panel sizes vary with manufacturer up to 4 x
12 ft.
Plenum Barrier
1.
USE: Reduce sound transmission through
plenum above partitions.
FINISHES - A decorative texture or appearance of a surface (or
the substance that gives it that appearance).

MATERIALS: 1/64 in. sheet lead, lead-loaded vinyl,

perforated aluminum, or foil-wrapped glass fiber.
2.

3.

S.T.C.: 1841 dB improvement.

4. NOTES: All openings through barrier for pipes, ducts,

etc., must be sealed airtight for maximum effectiveness.
Suspended Panels
1.

USE: Sound absorption.

2. MATERIALS: Vertical suspensionglass fiber blanket

wrapped with perforated aluminum foil or fabric stretched
over frame. Horizontal suspensionperforated steel or
aluminum with glass fiber blanket, or similar to vertical.
3.

N.R.C.: .55.85

4. NOTES: Panels may be suspended from structure or

attached directly to ceiling grid. May be arranged in a variety
of patterns including linear, square, zigzag vertical, or regular
or random spaced horizontal panels.
Acoustical Masonry Units
1.

USE: Sound absorption

2. MATERIALS: Concrete masonry unit, 4, 6, or 8 in. thick,

with metal baffle and/or fibrous filler in slotted areas.
Structural glazed facing tile, 4, 6, or 8 in. thick; 8 x 8 in. or 8
x 16 in. (nominal) face dimensions, with fibrous filler in cores.
3.

N.R.C.: .45.65

Spray-On Acoustical Material

1.

USE: Sound absorption.

2. MATERIALS: Mineral or cellulose fibers spray applied

to metal lath or directly to hard surfaces such as concrete,
steel, masonry, or gypsum wallboard.
3.

N.R.C.: .50.95

4. NOTES: Application to metal lath provides slightly

better sound absorption and permits irregular shapes.
Available with a hard surface for wall applications. Available
witth fire protection rating.
Flooring - wide plank, terrazzo, carpet
Flooring can be manufactured from practically every
commercially available species of wood. In the United
States wood flooring is grouped for marketing purposes
roughly according to species and region. There are
various grading systems used with various species, and
often different specifications for different sized boards in
a given species. For instance, nail size and spacing
varies among the several board sizes typically available
in oak. (example Parquet)
Terrazzo is a material composed of stone chips and cement
matrix and is usually polished. There are four generally
accepted types, classified by appearance:
1. STANDARD TERRAZZO: The most common type;
relatively small chip sizes (#1 and #2 size chips).
2. VENETIAN TERRAZZO: Larger chips (size #3 through
#8), with smaller chips filling the spaces between.

3.

PALLADIANA: Random fractured slabs of marble up to

approximately 15 in. greatest dimension, 3/8 to 1 in. thick,
with smaller chips filling spaces between.
4. RUSTIC TERRAZZO: Uniformly textured terrazzo in
which matrix is depressed to expose chips, not ground or
only slightly ground.
Precast Terrazzo
Several units are routinely available and almost any shape
can be produced. Examples include: straight, coved, and
splayed bases; window sills; stair treads and risers; shower
receptors; floor tiles; and wall facings.
Stone Chips
Stone used in terrazzo includes all calcareous serpentine
and other rocks capable of taking a good polish. Marble and
onyx are the preferred materials. Quartz, granite, quartzite,
and silica pebbles are used for rustic terrazzo and textured
mosaics not requiring polishing.
Carpet
The word "carpet" comes from the Latin carpere, "to card
wool." Carpet production in the U.S. has grown from 100
million square yards in 1910 to over 1 billion square yards in
the 1990s. Three events account for the increase.
1.

1930s: man-made fibers developed.

2.

1950s: tufting replaced weaving.

3. 1960s: tufting machine combined with piece dyeable

bulked continuous filament (BCF) nylon. This gave the
industry the ability to produce carpet styles with long color
lines of up to 50 or more colors without large inventory costs.
Carpet Fibers
Until the 1930s, nature accounted for 100% of face fiber
production for floor coverings. The uncertain supply of
desirable wools from about 20 countries, as well as variation
in fiber length and increasing costs of scouring and
processing, encouraged development of man-made fibers.
Man-made fibers are easy to clean, mildew resistant,
mothproof, and nonallergenic.
Wool
Of 1992 U.S. carpet production, 1% was wool. Its qualities
have been copied but never quite duplicated. The natural
tendency of animal fibers to stretch and return to their
original length makes wool carpet resilient, with excellent
recovery from crushing. Problems of supply make it the most
expensive fiber and the only one requiring antimoth
treatment.
Cotton
Negligible current usage. Tufted carpet was an offshoot of
the "tufted" bedspread cottage industry in the South and had
single-color, loop, or cut-pile fibers made of cotton.
Nylon
Of 1992 carpet production, 80% was nylon, a petrochemical
engineered for carpet use, with easy dying characteristics.
Successfully introduced into carpet in continuous filament, it

was later cut and processed in staple lengths (like wool) to

give more natural qualities to the finished product. Recent
developments combine topical treatments with modified
extrusions to give antisoil properties to the fibers. Adequate
maintenance provisions should accompany specifications for
these products, since soil will cause fiber damage unless
removed by vacuuming and cleaning.
Acrylic
Negligible current usage. This hydrocarbon synthetic is
considered to be the most wool-like of all man-made fibers.

Polypropylene (Olefin)
Of 1992 production, 12% and growing. This man-made
hydrocarbon normally lacks resilience and the ability to be
post-dyed. Its simplified extrusion capabilities plus the ability
to be solution-dyed prior to extrusion, encouraged many
carpet makers to install polypropylene fiber-making facilities.
Polyester
Of 1992 production, 7%. A high tensile strength synthetic
made by the esterification of ethyl glycol, it has easy care
and water-repellent qualities.
Wall covering, wallpaper, acoustic

Paint, wood stain, faux finishing

Faux - not genuine or real; being an imitation of the
genuine article.

Prepared by:

ARCH. DIANE A. JOSE