I was recently approached by a client
who wanted help in designing a
small investment broker's office in a
neighborhood of mixed residential
and medical buildings. The lot
included a small, somewhat run-down
two-bedroom house that initially
seemed like a candidate for renovation
and reuse as a commercial building.
On further investigation, though, we
concluded that it was too close to the
front of the lot to leave room for the
required parking.
The only practical option was to
demolish it and design a new structure,
taking advantage of the site's strengths
while working around its limitations
(see Figure 1). The tight corner lot easily
met the three well-known criteria
for a successful business — location,
location, and location —