Big Dig House Completed
In 2006, the house was still in its planning stages: a house built with more than 600,000 lbs of construction materials recycled from the Big Dig highway project in Boston. The “Big Dig” is the unofficial name of the Central Artery/Tunnel Project, the chief highway through the heart of Boston and the most expensive highway project in the United States. The Big Dig House is literally made from much of the waste materials from I-93 overcrossings.
The Big Dig House - don't drive here anymore
The final cost was approximately $150 per square foot, with most of the materials provided only for the cost of shipping. Single Speed Design used this project to prove the point that infrastructure materials can be salvaged and reused to create amazing structures. Most of the materials were used as-is from the I-93 teardown, so they created a structure significantly stronger than necessary for a residence. As such, the house features an amazing garage-top garden. Not too shabby!
Park your car and walk upstairs!
August 5th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I had no idea about this project, but as an eco-minded, Boston resident, it makes me so happy! The Big Dig was such a headache for so long, it’s nice to see that something like this can come out of it. Both the physical prize of the house itself and not sending all of that waste to landfills, and also the knowledge from the experience - hopefully things like this will continue to happen!