Unfortunate that part of the ceiling will be lower, but you might be able to make a feature out if it with a beam, structural or decorative, to split the spaces.

Would a tray ceiling work? (or a reverse tray ceiling)

Thanks for the advice.

Hi grekx,

Here are some ideas from previous projects of ours. You may find more on our profile and add what you like to your ideabooks. We specialize in ceilings. It would help if you can post pictures of what your area looks like now.

In the above picture, there were ducts to be covered, but the owner didn't want to lower the entire ceiling to cover them. Below, the same idea of using curvy shapes, but the duct to be covered was on a wall instead of a ceiling. The designer (Idevoks Design) used printed translucent stretch ceiling material and turned the problem into a gorgeous backlit design feature.
Here, the shapes were kept more structured and rectilinear.
Here, a drywall bulkhead around the perimeter of the room hides ducts and other equipment, while the printed stretch ceiling in the middle (tray ceiling) is the design feature.