Architect's Toolbox — Trim Wraps Up Design for Rooms

The way the inside of a house gets trimmed out contributes greatly to the overall nature of that house. In many ways, a well thought-out trim design can turn a drab and plain vanilla inside to something complex and rich, in addition to architecturally dynamic.

Among the most intriguing methods to use trim is because a connective element to connect together the elements within a distance and to fortify the area’s architecture. So when placing out trim, a few architects and other designers will often look for ways to use trim to connect windows, doors, soffits etc. and to use trim to set up datum points or spring lines where other features arise. The trim becomes a sort of ribbon which holds the wrap paper in place.

In these examples, the trim, whether painted or stained, is usually flat and easy. The profile of the trim is much less important than the way the trim travels around the room creating relations and framing elements.

Smith & Vansant Architects PC

Trim installed just like this creates the illusion that the wall is nothing more than a screen which can be moved. It is not surprising that this type of trim installation gained awareness and popularity in the late 19th century, when Japanese buildings started to become known in the West.

Smith & Vansant Architects PC

The door to the left and the windows on the right are attached and held in place with the ribbon of trim. There’s something to be said for intellectual rigor used to set up all the measurements in order that each element is connected and uses the same reference points.

Sarah Susanka, FAIA

Taking one place, say the top of the windows, then drawing a line from there all around the room, gives a logic and rationale to the placing of different characteristics above and below online. Now the upper cabinets and port hood have a reasonable place to be.

Sarah Susanka, FAIA

And soffits become deliberate rather than afterthoughts because we must conceal the pipes and the ducts.

Wayne Windham Architect, P.A.

Using trim to connect and bind elements works just as well in a massive space as in smaller, more intimate rooms. By establishing a reference point and then placing windows , more trim, railings etc.. below this, the enormity of the distance is reduced.

Wayne Windham Architect, P.A.

Surely these ribbons of trim can connect the first floor to the second floor, so elements are attached horizontally in addition to vertically.

Mark Brand Architecture

As stated earlier, this use of trim has a distinctly Japanese quality. Walls are made to feel much less structural and load bearing and much more light and movable. However, the American strategy was less rigorous than required by the Japanese tatami.

Taliesin Preservation, Inc..

Surely it was this strategy to trim which Frank Lloyd Wright reveled in. And in Wright’s work it had been the intricacy of the trim that created for an architecturally rich inside. So rather than simply a continuous ribbon, the trim line could vanish to a rock mass, popping out the other hand as it turned a corner.

More:
8 Parts of Interior Trim

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