Most of us don’t give much thought about pipes since they simply provide the bare essentials of most buildings. However, the pipes of HSMSE are unique in that they run outside of the walls. They occupy every hallway, the entire 3rd floor, the entire C floor, 16 rooms on the B floor, 10 rooms on the 1st floor, and 17 rooms on the 2nd floor. I asked several people to estimate how many rooms contained visible pipes, and only 10% of them came close, showing just how truly unaware most of us are about the mechanisms of the school where we spend at least 6 hours of our weekdays.
Most buildings hide their piping inside of the walls. This is typically a permanent decision, as replacing the piping inside of the wall is both expensive and time consuming. However, external pipes can be installed as an alternative when a building needs to install new outlets, faucets, or vents, but lacks the space in the walls and ceilings. Rerouting these pathways would be very expensive and time consuming for our school, and would occupy that room for weeks, if not months. Thus, pipes are installed to conceal the wires, running along the ceilings and on the walls. They are often painted the same color as the background so that they can blend in more easily.
The hallways are a strategic location for pipes, because they are transitional areas in the school which people mainly use to go from one place to another, not to spend time in specifically. Additionally, because the hallways connect to every room, the water and air inside doesn’t have to travel very far, and requires less energy to maintain its temperature. Thus, their ceilings can be used as the main piping system for each floor. However, these pipes have the potential to provide the hallways with visual appeal, too, like HSMSE’s iconic Dragon Pipe running along the B-Floor hallway ceiling.
The placement of our massive purple pipes in plain sight might appear to be an unusual choice, but it’s actually not uncommon. Architects often place many necessities in strategic positions so that they don’t excessively clog up our lives. When walking past skyscrapers at eye level, their bases appear similar to normal buildings, but upon closer inspection they are much taller. Unless we go out of our way to look up at all the buildings we pass by, they all look the same.
So, the next time that you find yourself drifting off in class or clogged in a hallway traffic jam just look around you, chances are, you’ll find something intriguing to stare at for a moment, delivering everything we need everywhere we need it.