I recall when suspended ceilings were the cats' meow of ceilings. The neatest thing about them was the wide-open nature of the area above the grid, that allowed you to easily shift lights about as needed.
They were also a good, easy way to conceal or even out a messed-up, cluttered ceiling. No more looking at the plumbing or I-beams. Helped alot with noise from the typing pool too.
Then everyone started packing stuff into the ceiling. Data/phone guys started draping tons of wire over the fixtures.
A litte earthquake gave us some dramatic footage of such a ceiling floundering about like a fish on deck, before disintegrating before our eyes. The dust settles, and there were all the fixtures swinging from their whips.
That the ceiling in question was probably not installed correctly was something never discussed. Instead, 'earthquake' codes quickly mandated all manner of additional supports - additionl ones for the hacks to 'forget,' just like the missing wires in that failed ceiling.
Add to that confusion regarding fire-rated ceiling assemblies. That Caddy made - and probably continues to make - an entire line of electrical supports designed to attach your stuff to the grid is forgotten.
Look above such a ceiling today, and there's hardly room for a mouse ... then, have fun getting that tile back in place.
This all makes me wonder if the day of the suspended ceiling is past, and if they will go the way of Knob & Tube.
