Uff, lots to think about huh? You can't exactly take 200 year old methods and assume they'll make an adequate contemporary house. I think you're on the right track to think thru the details. Before you go too far though, get the client signed up. Encourage her ideas and admit that it is a challenging endeavor - that you'd like to take on. Sign her up for a Design Phase where you'll get compensated for some time spent figuring it out. It gives you both an "out" if it gets to unweildy. Then go to work - several viable solutions will emerge. A good building motto is "It is always possible, may be expensive, but there is always a way." Money invested in design will be saved later.

Suspect you'll end up with overlapping layers and well thought out movement (buffer) zones. Lateral bracing needs to be figured out for that particular job. Can be interior shear walls, vert/horz grids of nailers, sheathing layers, maybe no knee braces at all. Need more info.