My brother-in-law sent a picture on his way to the beach in Ipswitch, MA. On his journey, he discovered the famous Clam Box and asked if I had any architectural interpretation. Oh boy did I have some insight as to the debate within the architectural discourse that he had stumbled upon and my interpretation of how it applied to The Clam Box.

The Clam Box happens to be somewhat of an interesting cross-over hybrid in the Duck vs Decorated Shed debate of Robert Venturi outlined in Learning from Las Vegas. In post-modernism, Venturi theorized that contemporary buildings tend to fall into the category of either being object-like 'the Duck' and therefore autodidactic of it's form and symbol, verses 'the Decorated Shed' which uses decoration and/or signs to convey it's symbolic meaning.

The Clam Box in itself is a simple clapboard structure that has angled parapets (I feel sorry for whoever had to draft those details but that's another story) . The structure is predominantly a meta-reference to the take-out boxes that the clams & other seafood fare are served in (one point for Duck). However, the way in which the simple structure is turned into an object building is through ornamentation of a unique parapet, signifying a decorated shed. Although the building is roughly the proportions of a box, the parapet somewhat abstracts the folded lids in dimension.

Overall, it is my belief that The Clam Box is a decorated shed disguised as a duck.

The Duck vs The Decorated Shed image from 'Learning from Las Vegas'

The Clam Box of Ipswitch, MA; an interesting hybrid of the Duck vs the Decorated Shed debate.