Scenario: A company is experiencing slow query performance due to numerous joins in their SQL queries. As a database architect, how would you propose implementing denormalization to address this issue?

Option 2: Combining tables - Denormalization involves combining normalized tables into fewer tables to reduce the number of joins required in queries. By doing so, the database architect can decrease the complexity of queries, leading to improved query performance. However, it's essential to carefully analyze the trade-offs, such as potential data redundancy and update anomalies, before implementing denormalization. This option is correct because combining tables is a fundamental step in denormalizing a database schema to optimize query performance.