Tucked away in the quiet backstreets behind Piazza Navona lies this historic building with our client's apartment on the first floor. The small windows and proximity of the buildings opposite keep the rooms cool but limit light. This, combined with the fact that we were not permitted to connect any structure to the vaulted ceiling, gave us the idea of designing all internal walls to be 2.8m high - just short of the ceiling. In this way light was able to pass over the walls and filter deep into the inner rooms of the apartment. The visual effect of this is also to accentuate the modernity of the new installation in contrast to the rustic ceiling and uneven exterior walls. All walls appear to float off the new pietra serena stone floor.