Decoding the Design Dictionary: The Soffit and How it Adds to Your Space

Design terms deserve a dictionary of their own. As designers, we use these everyday, but to the general public, design terminology is something that is seen rather than learned.  Take for example the word “soffit”.

Unless you’re into design, we’re fairly certain that you’re probably scratching your head trying to guess what a soffit is. We’ll give you a hint: it’s not a tool…..

soffit

Image © Visnick & Caulfield

A soffit is simply a piece of finished material such as drywall or wood placed below the primary ceiling to create the illusion of a change in spatial height.

Soffits are great design features especially in the workplace. Why? We’ll give you four reasons.

1. Trick Of The Eye

Because a soffit is placed lower than the actual ceiling, our eyes are forced to travel up rather than forward. When you have a vast open-work plan, it’s hard for people to register the fact that there are niche areas within the space.Yes, even though the workplace is primarily filled with focus areas, there are still specific rooms like kitchens, lounges and collaboration spots.

By crowning these areas with a soffit, they are able to remain cohesive, but visually, they register as separate from the rest of the space. Essentially soffits work to create rooms inside of rooms.

an investment firm

Private Investment Firm Seating Area. Image © Neil Alexander for Visnick & Caulfield

Here is an example of this concept. We placed a soffit above a seating and lounge area in a private investment firm to help define and separate it from the rest of the office, while still keeping it open. As you can see, its circular shape and depth away from the ceiling draws the eye toward the furniture below, rather than down the hallway beyond.

Soffits help to cap niche areas that can be used for meeting, conversing, and relaxing. They also help signify to the user that a design feature, like the above seating area, is both a functional and aesthetically pleasing space.

2. Customization: Shapes! Light! Color!

Since soffits are made out of various finished materials, they are transformational. We can make them circular, square or wavy; white, black or multi-colored; paneled, textured or embedded with light fixtures. The possibilities are endless. Soffits can be elevated from structural to ornamental, allowing us as designers to bring visual interest into any space.

We installed a rolling soffit adorned with guiding lights to add visual interest to this corridor, and then customized it to match the millwork used throughout the rest of the space.

This custom designed soffit creates visual interest throughout a corridor in an investment firm. Image © Neil Alexander for Visnick & Caulfield

Rolling soffits adorned with beautiful lighting, like this soffit that we installed in another investment firm, can add interest to otherwise common places like a corridor. Being able to customize this soffit to match the mill work used throughout the rest of the office also helped us unite the entire design of the office.

3. Disguise HVAC systems (and other building features)

Soffits are also a great way to hide plumbing pipes, electrical units, HVAC systems, and the other general building functions that are housed in office ceilings. They also are a great alternative to standard popcorn ceiling panels, helping to elevate the aesthetic and bring beauty and uniqueness into standard office spaces.

Notice how by adding a soffit, we were able to cover the ceiling pipes above this office lounge area.

A hanging soffit covers an HVAC system while still exposing industrial elements above. Image © Neil Alexander for Visnick & Caulfield

By adding a soffit above this office lounge at PowerAdvocate, we were able to cover up what was a large HVAC system, as well as add more lighting to the space, while still leaving some rustic pipes exposed to maintain an industrial feel.

4. Act as overhead guides

Because of the aforementioned ability to draw the eye to certain targets, we use soffits to highlight passages and guide users to progress through a space.

AlphaSimplex corridor complete with guiding soffits. Image © Neil Alexander for Visnick & Caulfield

AlphaSimplex corridor complete with guiding soffits. Image © Neil Alexander for Visnick & Caulfield

In this space we designed for investment research and management boutique AlphaSimplex, we used wood soffits to reinforce the rhythm of the existing building columns along the tour corridor. As you can see, the perspective created by the soffits draws and rewards users with a destination beyond their initial view from the entry and reception areas.

Ultimately, soffits are a simple way to conceal, customize, and define a space, and are thus, an important part of the design terminology.

Written by Isobelle Hemmers
Edited by Burt Visnick, Senior Principal at Visnick & Caulfield, AIA, IIDA, NCARB
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