Project : Architecture

Big Dig House

Lexington, MA 2006
[ AIA/BSA Housing Design Award, Metropolis Next Generation Prize, Featured in Resource Salvation: The Architecture of Reuse ]

Acting as a prototype for salvaging infrastructural refuse, this house features a structural system comprised entirely of steel and concrete discarded from Boston’s Big Dig. By repurposing over 600,000 pounds of material from the dismantled I-93 highway, the assembly was engineered as a flexible, pre-fabricated system. These heavy-duty components support loads far beyond standard residential capacity, easily accommodating large-scale roof gardens and dense programmatic layers. While not a literal instance of “precycling,” the project reveals an untapped potential for the public realm: through strategic front-end planning, future schools, libraries, and housing can be built directly from deconstructed infrastructure—preserving resources, embodied energy, and taxpayer funds.

What do we do with the massive waste from ‘obsolete’ infrastructure? Can these materials be re-imagined as architecture?
Large-scale infrastructure often requires temporary traffic rerouting generating significant waste; the Big Dig House directly reuses this waste as architectural structure.
Using bridge-building techniques, the house was erected in just 23 hours—a massive improvement over the 2-3 weeks required for standard framing.
Exposed highway materials demonstrate how they were salvaged and reassembled.
Design proposal for a mixed-use project using structural systems salvaged from Big Dig temporary highways.
Discarded highway materials can create diverse building types. If cities ‘pre-cycle’ infrastructure—designing for second and third uses—public assets can be repurposed into schools, libraries, and housing.
Schematic of the Big Dig House construction sequence.
Reused highway components enable light, open spaces by allowing for cantilevers and long spans.
The main stair is hung with cables from the cantilevered Big Dig structure.
With the structural system bearing all loads, non-load-bearing walls allow for large column-free spaces and horizontal windows.
Independent structure and walls allow for freely integrated balconies.
Steel framing and cross-bracing are salvaged from original highway offramp supports.

Architect
John Hong AIA, LEED AP (principal in charge)
Jinhee Park AIA (SsD), Erik Carlson, Sadmir Ovcina (design team)

Structural Engineer
Paul Pedini + Weidlinger Associates

Water Resources Engineer
Cristina Perez

Construction Manager
Paul Pedini

Featured in: Resource Salvation: The Architecture of Re-use, Mark Gorgolewski, John Wiley and Sons, 2018.

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