The client had approvals for a Mediterranean residence designed by another architect. The market hadshifted so that now modern residences were commanding higher prices than Mediterraneans and hewanted to change the design to a warm-feeling modern. He had hired a second architect to revise theoriginal plans. While that architect came up with a satisfactory design, it was very apparent that it wasnot a “like-for-like” design that could be easily re-approved by the City’s Planning and BuildingDepartments without all new hearings and approvals.Enter Steve Yett, with his problem solving skill set; he took elements of both designs, combining thestronger elements of both in such a way that the revised project was reapproved by the City in one of it’s easiest approval procedures: the “Substantial Conformance” review. The whole project was reapprovedrelatively painlessly with minimal review, saving significant time and money.“The trick was changing the house from a compartmentalized, small-windowed Mediterranean to anopen and free-flowing modern floor plan with large expanses of glass to take in the amazing ocean viewall-the-while not changing the building footprint in order to keep all of the discretionary approvals active.”