Like anyone, I have a few small things that bug me more than they should. But as fits my status as a curmudgeon, mine is nearly impossible to avoid while being hopelessly esoteric. You see, nothing bothers me more than a hung T-bar ceiling with drop-in acoustical tile.
If that doesn’t make any sense to you, I’ll explain. A hung T-bar ceiling is the grid that you find hanging down from the real ceiling in nearly any office and most stores. The “T” is upside down, and is a piece of metal that supports lights, ducts, and all kinds of things. Mostly what fits into the channels formed by the inverted “T” are acoustical tile; this is a flat panel that absorbs sound and often has a fake texture applied to help that process.
What’s so annoying about this ubiquitous arrangement? Actually, quite a lot. I consider it to be the root of many smaller evils that have become part of the architecture of modern life.
The first problem is fluorescent lights. I realize that these save energy and all of that, but I learned to hate them because of their incessant hummmm. More than that, the basic idea of a distributed grid of these at highly regular intervals is that it creates a perfectly uniform light throughout the establishment. Uniform. Regular. Conforming. It’s all even and smooth, no surprises around any corner. It’s not only boring, it’s enveloping.
The second problem is also distributed evenly through the grid; ventilation. No section of a store is allowed to have a glowing radiator that you can sit by, nor is any part allowed to chill down a bit should you prefer to stay cool. It’s all the same, and it’s regulated by the person who has control of the thermostat.
The last problem I have is that it’s dreadfully boring and yet everywhere. The off-white tiles are above our heads constantly, yet they are ignored. When did you ever actually see the 2’x2′ tiles that frame one side of your life? Boring vernacular items like this teach us to ignore parts of our lives, to shut out the view of things around us as just more noise, more whitespace, more background.
What’s the alternative? Thankfully, the hung T-bar ceiling is losing popularity slowly and giving way to the open “warehouse” look. The first time I ran into this I was a kid, and the Chemistry Building at the University of Miami, where my Dad taught, had recently been constructed along these lines. I have to say that all the exposed pipes seemed strange even though they were fascinating. Did I really want to see all that stuff hung from the ceiling?
The short answer is, yes, I did, and it probably taught me to look up and see every side of the world around me. That’s why I started noticing how boring nearly everything was by design and why I started learning more and more about why people worked so very hard to make everything boring.
Now, the only alternative to the hung T-bar ceiling with drop-in acoustical tile should not be an exposed everything ceiling. There have to be ways of creating barrel vaults with bendable plastic panels that allow some distribution of ventilation and give places where light fixtures can be hung. I’m sure there are ways to do this, and I have a few sketches I produce on a moment’s notice to anyone who will listen to my rant. The point is that we should try a little bit and not have everything the same everywhere we go.
I’m sure there’s a place for the hung T-bar ceiling with drop-in acoustical tile. I just don’t want to see it everywhere I go. Now that I’ve mentioned it, you’ll probably start seeing it everywhere and realize what the problem is. Sorry ’bout that, but it’s the first step towards radicalizing people into a movement – a revolution that will end the tyranny of the hung T-bar ceiling forever!
Well, a guy can dream, yes?
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 
As a Registered Architect and a Certified Interior Designer who has designed many spaces with both open ceilings and acoustical tile I couldn’t disagree with this entire posting more. Particularly the part about fluorescent lights. What you don’t like about the lighting isn’t is that is fluorescent, but that it is direct lighting. What is much better is indirect lighting (light that shines up at the ceiling and then back down) or a mix of direct/indirect lighting. Then the next most important thing is color temperature of the bulbs. Most people think that “daylight” is the best light. Actually, daylight is very blue. Traditional fluorescent bulbs are also have a very blue color temperature. Nowadays you can get fluorescent bulbs with a warm color temperature, closer to red. This resembles the incandescent bulbs that you use to light your home with, and is a more pleasing environment to be in.
Back to the acoustical tile. There are many types of acoustical tile ceilings other than the traditional 4×4 or 2×2 grid. You can get linear tiles, shapes tiles, many options. You can also design with clouds, drops, the possibilities are endless. Why would you want to use acoustical tile instead of an open ceiling? The reason is in the name. For acoustical reasons. Most of the sound absorption in any room can be best controlled in the ceiling. If you have a space, such as a library, that needs to be quiet, acoustical tile is still the best solution.
My advice? Of course, hire a great architect and make sure you work to get a beautifully designed space and then you don’t have to worry about ugly ceilings and bad lighting.
Judy
If you’ll allow me to say that perhaps it’s implemented badly, relentlessly most of the time, I think we might agree. The solution you propose is right on – lighting is important, and one size never fits all. A good designer does break out of that!