Intersecting Transparency Possible?

I'm just starting to think about level design in my game and before I start heading down a possible dead end I thought I'd ask here first.

Basically, I have one large plane (blue in the image) which objects will be placed on however in some place I'd like to place an object through the plane to create a gap - in this example I have a red ring shape which I'd like the center to be transparent (or cut out).

I was wondering if there is a 'simple' way of doing this rather than building the plane around the ring to create the gap in the middle.

Thanks.