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 —
