The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

This remarkable wood ceiling project required - and challenged to the utmost - the creative energies of every professional along the chain of execution. It began with a phone call to WoodCeilings’ Rep Greg Hollowaty, of Architectural Material Resources, a specialist for over 30 years in custom ceilings. Greg responded to staff architect Hayden Salter’s request for help with Spanish architect Jose (Rafael) Moneo’s ceiling design. Dr. Moneo conceived of using massive wooden beams woven into a complex pattern to cover the 100-foot high ceiling in the main sanctuary of the new Los Angeles Cathedral. The challenge, as always, was to fulfill the design intent while remaining within budget. “It was an ideal collaborative effort,” recalls Hollowaty.

Full Size Mockup - Click to Zoom

WoodCeilings’ Sales and Engineering team worked through an eight-month iterative process with this unique design group consisting of Hollowaty, Salter and staff from executive architect Leo Daly’s LA office, creating material samples and budget estimates. This process culminated in creating a full size mock-up. Working at a breakneck pace, the mock-up was hung from the parking structure of the Diocese of Los Angeles only moments before Dr. Moneo, associate architect Leo Daly staff, Jeff Moe of Morley Construction (the GC), and the Diocese construction team appeared to review the fruit of this collaborative process. Dr. Moneo gave the mock-up his blessing. He expressed delight that it faithfully represented his design concept. He was pleased that it imaginatively solved several budget problems including wood species, color control, acoustic performance and suspension. “It was an extremely important feature of the design for us. We imagined something warm and delicate to complement the concrete structure and to make people feel both the majesty and intimacy of the space. All that with a very limited budget and complex technical parameters,” recalls architect Hayden Salter.

The ceiling design consisted of 42,000 SF of stylized timbers, or “logs” as they came to be called. Each “log” was 24” wide, by 16” deep spanning the ceiling to a central rib. Each “log” was separated by 6” reveals. Rough sawn hem/fir, a softwood species, was used for the face material. Rough sawn fir plywood was used in the returns and ceiling extents, special ordered from the only known manufacturer. A cedar stain kept the ceiling within the warm monochromatic color pallet echoed in other interior surfaces such as the integrally colored concrete walls and buttresses, alabaster windows, and Spanish limestone floor pavers. Moneo’s design used the face planes of the muscular concrete columns to weave the ceiling “logs” into patterns of intersecting sections. As Nicolai Ouroussoff, architectural critic for the LA Times, put it, “Above, the patterned wood surface of the ceiling sags down like the belly of a whale, which helps give the room an unexpected warmth.” All components were to be engineered for a minimum 300-year life cycle, as the Cathedral was intended to last 1000 years. That was a unique request; someone volunteered to check-up on it in 300 years.

3-D Wire Frame Model - Click to Zoom

Survey Theodolite - Click to Zoom

The project moved to the specification phase and on to bidding. The acoustic subcontract was let to Hutchison Corp., not only because of their solid pricing, but primarily because of their wide experience in large, complex suspended ceiling projects in Southern California. Working with Hutchison Project Manager Dale Patterson, the WoodCeilings’ project team began the byzantine task of deciphering the truth within Dr. Moneo’s ceiling geometry. WoodCeilings’ Project Engineer Dan Boustead, in order to detail the ceiling’s complex geometry, converted the project drawings into a 3-D wire frame model. This 3-D model, combined with electronic survey control, was the breakthrough that unlocked the mysteries of a ceiling without right angles, without plumb, without horizontal or vertical planes. Says Boustead of the effort, “Taking the 3-D model to the job site addressed project needs on a macro level. We were able to triangulate key work points in space from predetermined survey control points that were placed in the model and physically marked on the building structure. Then, taking the 3-D model to our shop floor we could on a micro level, check dimensional quality during fabrication of each architectural wood component.” It came to be dubbed the “3-D Survey Control Method”.

Layout on Shop Floor - Click to Zoom

This 3-D ceiling model became the gyroscope controlling the execution of the project in four critical ways:

1. It enabled the use of electronic survey coordinate geometry to confirm the Cathedral’s 100 foot as-built concrete columns. Accurately locating these columns was critical because, by the architectural design, they controlled the wood ceiling lay-out. A traditional field measurement was not an option. Timing of the as-built survey data for fabrication was a challenge.
   
2. It gave a literal road map for WoodCeiling’s fabrication team, headed by Lon Tyler, an expert in three-dimensional Timber Frame joinery, to construct the ceiling’s compound angles and assemblies. A surveyor actually scribed the Cathedral’s as-built survey data on the factory floor as control lay-out lines.
   
3. It gave the general contractor and architectural team the needed control points for locating adjacent trade’s work, such as windows, catwalks and lighting as well as facilitating the architect’s design refinements.
   
4. It provided the Hutchison superintendent, John Low, the complex elevation reference points to begin and end his T-Bar Grid suspension lay-out. Making this marriage in space between factory constructed wood ceiling panels and the suspension grid was the critical challenge during installation.

Interior Scaffolding - Click to Zoom

Several ideas for reaching the ceiling height were discussed. In the end, the only real option was a 100’ scaffolding and dance floor. It was a work of art in itself. Hutchison’s team ran 1 3/8” drywall grid from a central control dubbed “Alpha Point” out to the perimeter extents creating the various ceiling planes and sections. To meet stringent Los Angeles seismic code, screws directly fastened the “logs” to the grid. Factory built returns provided closures at the ceiling extents, while Hutchison’s crew field cut a 1” reveal around the individual columns.

WoodCeilings Team - Click to Zoom

Many challenges were overcome during the engineering, fabrication and installation phases. Fire Rating issues, grid location concerns, change control, to name a few, coupled with a challenging construction schedule, demanded the highest caliber performance from each member of the construction team. As WoodCeilings’ Project Manager Charley Coury said, “I learned to take my tooth brush on job site meetings.” When the dust settled, despite numerous unique parts and pieces, no rework was required. The Cathedral of our Lady possesses certainly one of the most unique cathedral ceilings in the world, both because of its design and because of the wood material used in it. As Merle Tyler, President of WoodCeilings’ commented during the Cathedral dedication ceremony, “There are a few times in your life when you are part of a great work. This was one of them.”

Finished Project - Click to Zoom