hover above

Hi, all


I wonder what "hover above" exactly means in these sentences below. And could you also explain me what is "wash-basin drain outlet", please?

Hunstanton was described by one teacher who spent 37 years there as ‘a tragedy’. He itemised its leaking roofs, cracking glass panels, extreme temperatures in summer and winter, horrendous sound transmission and other practical shortcomings. Even the famous wash-basin drain outlets hovering above the gulley had previously been done by Banister Fletcher at his Brentford Gillette Factory in 1936-37.


Thank you!

Where did you find this passage, Ovidius? It makes no sense at all to me. A gulley is a ravine or channel in the ground. A wash-basin drain outlet is the outlet at the bottom of a sink or washbasin where the water drains away. To hover is to hang in the air like a hummingbird or a helicopter. I cannot imagine drainpipes hovering above a gulley.

Hi, Perla. Thank you very much!

I found the article here, where some of the sentences really seem to be perplexing to me

http://www.architectural-review.com/essays/alison-smithson-and-peter-smithson/8625631.article