When faced with great loss, recovery – back to the way things were before – is the first strategy that may come to mind once the brain is working again. But recovery can be more than that. When a family lost their Santa Rosa home a couple of years ago, they realized that they could rebuild ‘different’ – distinctive, and personal. Their recent comments, one year after moving in: We just passed our first anniversary in the house. It has been a very difficult year, for various reasons, but the house is a true source of comfort and pleasure for us. We love it, from design to quality construction. Rarely does a week go by that someone does not come up to us and tell us how much they love our house, from neighbors to complete strangers … Applied Architecture was thrilled to help bring a fresh design perspective to this still unfolding story.