The pace seems to be picking up, major commitments being made: contractors will start “roughing in” the air ducts, then the plumbing, and then the electrical—the order goes from bulkiest to skinniest, on the lived experience that it is easier to route an electric wire around an air duct than vice-versa.  We’ve borrowed from the “Not so big” architectural movement (which started at SALA) the idea of ‘dropping’ the perimeter of our ceilings by one foot, while rounding the central portion into an arch or more accurately, an upside-down ‘tray’.  In this way there’s plenty of room to run air ducts across a ceiling without having them showing.  The carpenters have started framing in the ‘soffits’ or spaces along the perimeter.