Designing wood supports for large ceilings poses challenges for two reasons, first the simple fact that the requisite thickness of wood rapidly produces an extremely large structural member as the span increases, and second that it can be challenging to express any unique idea with an art so old without resorting to extremely complicated systems.

This ceiling by Alvar Aalto in Saynatsalo, Finland, appears almost ethereal as the heavy structural member, supported at the middle by wood members in tension, hangs low and far away from the roof, which it supports with a forest of thinner wooden struts.  The result is a strong, unique, but conceptually simple and beautiful structure which in brighter images appears spectacular and in darker images disappears into the blackness above, a mysterious and amazing piece of design work.