DesignSolutions: Problem -  eight years ago Peter Carthy, who works in the property business, bought his apartment in an 18th century house on North Great George's Street, Dublin 1.

It is a particularly special place, but didn't let in a lot of light because four tall cubicles had been built in each corner of the room that faces the street to house a tiny kitchen, shower room, toilet and utility space.

"They blocked a lot of light coming into the room so one of the things I wanted to do was get back my windows," says Peter.

"While doing that we wanted to create a kitchen in this room that was contemporary, functional and provided an interaction with the rest of the room when cooking.

"We also wanted to find some extra space so we'd have maximum use of the room."

The apartment is on the piano nobile of the building, the grand first floor rooms where entertaining would have taken place, and consists of two interconnecting rooms with the exceptionally high ceilings of the period and plasterwork that survived a renovation during the 1970s.

Solution: working with Paul Kelly of the architectural firm FKL Architects, the notion of creating a structure that would be suspended midway through the room evolved: it was not to interfere with the shape or details of the space and not affect light entering through the windows.

A platform stretches from one wall to the other and is reached by a folding stairs that can be pulled down from beneath. It is used as a guest bedroom and sometimes a study.

Below this a kitchen was installed by Langrell Kitchens and reaches around in a sideways U shape to meet the underside of the platform. The counter is made of stainless steel.

"We were very aware that this is a protected structure but what's been done ended up very sympathetic to the building; it also works in the practical way we hoped it might.

"The new upper space doesn't interfere with the shape of the room because the glass sides allow the cornicing be seen."

There is also a good flow of space around the kitchen counter sitting in front of the fireplace - it leads you back to the livingroom at the rear.

FKL Architects 01 8779009, elyons@irish-times.ie