We divide the figure into two pieces, as shown in the attached diagram.
We get a rectangle with dimensions [tex]20 \ cm \times 21 \ cm[/tex] plus a square with dimensions [tex]18 \ cm \times 18 \ cm[/tex]. The area of the rectangle is [tex]420 \ cm^2[/tex] and the square is [tex]324 \ cm^2[/tex], which together add up to [tex]744 \ cm^2[/tex].