In traditional Chinese architecture, every facet of a building was decorated using various materials and techniques. Simple ceiling ornamentations in ordinary buildings were made of wooden strips and covered with paper. More decorative was the lattice ceiling, constructed of woven wooden strips or sorghum stems fastened to the beams. The most decorative and the most complex ceiling was the caisson. Because of the intricacy of its ornamentation, the caisson was reserved for the ceilings of the most important Chinese buildings such as imperial palaces and Buddhist temple altars.