Dwell 2015 11

modern world
kitchens we love
Open Table
A renovation in Boston helps bring a family
together—at home and in the kitchen.
text by
Luke Hopping
photos by
Matthew Delphenich
project
Corcoran-Hunt Residence
architect
Bunker Workshop
bunkerworkshop.com
location
Boston, Massachusetts
In renovating the 90-squarefoot
kitchen of a Boston
apartment, architect Chris
Greenawalt drew upon both
spatial and material solutions
to create a pleasing and
wheelchair-accessible space
to accommodate all three of
its tenants.
Universal design is actually quite
specific. That’s what architect Chris
Greenawalt of Bunker Workshop
learned while renovating Amy and
Elizabeth Corcoran-Hunt’s apartment
in Boston’s South End. Amy, a writer
whose legs were almost completely
paralyzed by a neurological disease in
2013, recalls when she was measured
for her wheelchair: “It was done in
great detail, so it fit perfectly.” For their
home, the couple wanted a space that
was equally tailored to her needs.
When they connected with
Greenawalt in 2014, the Corcoran-Hunts
and their daughter, Caroline, then
two years old, were in the process of
relocating from a duplex to a singlefloor
apartment that promised greater
accessibility, with one notable exception:
the kitchen.
Closed off and loaded with clunky
appliances, the 90-square-foot developer
unit was cumbersome for Amy to
navigate. “If you maneuver yourself
well in a sleekly designed wheelchair,
you can get by with a four-by-four-footwide
turning radius,” she explains. For
the hardest-working room in the home,
such cramped conditions would not do
for the family of three.
The project posed a unique challenge
for Greenawalt, who had never before
designed for a wheelchair user. To >
66 NOVEMBER 2015 DWELL