FAT DECKER
CORE I—HARVARD GSD
FALL 2019
INSTRUCTOR: SEAN CANTY
FALL 2019
INSTRUCTOR: SEAN CANTY
This project exams the urban fabric of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city tangled by unorthodox grid systems that generate chaos within otherwise orderly residential neighborhoods. This 2 week project speculates on the consequences of intersecting grids as a house might try to adhere to the neat order dictated by a pattern of property lines. Does an oddly shaped plot result in an oddly shaped house? What happens when the standard "Triple-Decker" becomes a Fat Decker? The project investigates how introducing fatness into this typology can afford new opportunities for human interaction and neighborhood connectivity. This manifests through interior courtyards, shared kitchens, shared living rooms, shared balconies, shared dining, and a new centrality within the lots. The Fat Decker, a consequence of abnormalities within the urban grid, turns one unit into 2 through the utilization of shared spaces.