I curse the previous owners of my house that put up the 12X12
interlocking ceiling tiles stapled to furring strips. Impossible to
take one down to run a cable line, phone wire, etc. If I were to redo
it, I would just spray everything in the ceiling flat black. Looks
great, no clearnace issues, and if you ever need to run something new
it is open. Get a can of black spray paint and spray whatever new
pipe, wire etc. so it blends in.