Solution: Draw a picture first. It can be observed by drawing that the increased area consists of two rectangles with equal areas and a small square with a side length of 4 meters. The length of the rectangle is the side length of the original square and the width is 4 meters.

Subtract the area of the small square from the increased area, leaving the area of two rectangles.

96-4×4=80 (square meter)

It turns out that the side length of a square is

80÷2÷4= 10 (m)

10× 10= 100 (m2)

A: The original area is 100 square meter.