Big Dig House /

Single Speed Design

By Arch Daily

 

• The Big Dig is the most expensive highway project in the history of the US. The project included rerouting the Central Artery into a tunnel under the heart of Boston, requiring a tremendous engineering work due to underlaying metro lines and pipes and utility lines that would have to be replaced or moved. Tunnel workers encountered many unexpected geological and archaeological barriers, ranging from glacial debris to foundations of buried houses and a number of sunken ships lying within the reclaimed land.

The Big Dig House by Single Speed Design reutilizes materials from the Big Dig. In that aspect, it´s a remarkable example of recycling in architecture. Project description by the architects after the break.
Architects: Single Speed Design
Location： Lexington, MA, USA
Programme： Private House
Completion year： 2008
Site Area： 1,784 sqm
Constructed Area： 353 sqm
Photographs: Single Speed Design


As a prototype building that demonstrates how infrastructural refuse can be salvaged and reused, the structural system for this 3,400sf house is comprised of steel and concrete discarded from Boston’s Big Dig utilizing over 600,000 lbs of salvaged materials from elevated portions of the now dismantled I-93 highway. Planning the reassembly of the materials in a similar way one would systematically compose with a pre-fab system, subtle spatial arrangements are created from the large-scale highway components.

These same components however are capable of carrying much higher loads than standard building materials, thus easily allowing the integration of large scale planted roof gardens. Most importantly, the project demonstrates an untapped potential for the public realm: with strategic front-end planning, much needed community programs including schools, libraries, and housing could be constructed whenever infrastructure is deconstructed, saving valuable resources, embodied energy, and taxpayer dollars.

salvaged elements

salvaged elements

salvaged elements

salvaged elements

salvaged elements

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence

installation sequence animation

site plan

first floor plan

second floor plan

roof plan

section 01

section 02

sequence axo – foundation

sequence axo – frame

sequence axo – inversets

sequence axo – lightframe stair

sequence axo – gardens

sequence axo – cladding

11 Craziest Halloween Decorated Homes

Enjoy These Impressive Halloween Homes

1. The Pumpkin Palace
This home is one of the subtler of the bunch but if you look closely, you’ll see well over 100 neatly carved pumpkins lighting up the night. Though the other houses might be a bit more chaotic in their approach, imagine the time it took to carve each and every Jack-O-Lantern!?


2. The Haunted House
While most of the homes on this list go for a more cartoon-ish appeal, this spooky place takes a legitimate crack at the classic haunted house. Sure, by day it’s probably a nice suburban home but with some creative lighting, they’ve managed to turn their upper-middle-class home into an eerie site.


3. The Casa de Cartoons
Speaking of cartoon-ish, the owners of this home definitely went for the novel look over the authentic. Showcasing a twelve-foot Homer Simpson, Sponge Bob Square Pants and a pair of life-sized Incredible Hulks (moonlighting as Frankenstein), there is nothing subtle about this Halloween home.


4. The Vegas Holiday
Whether this is a quaint suburban home or a tacky Vegas hotel, we may never know but it’s impressive nonetheless. Who knows what flamingos and frogs have to do with Halloween but what is certain is that the decorating team behind this crazy Halloween house certainly left their shame at the door and went all out for the holiday.


5. The New York Nightmare
You know you’ve done a substantial job of decorating when you can’t even see the house itself! Yep, this New York City residence definitely went all-in for the holiday when they slathered their tiny lot with more decorations than square footage.


6. The House of the Living Dead
It’s probably a more impressive site by night but this place has done a great job of covering such a large lot with plenty to see. Aside from the impressive amount of skeletons, zombies and tombstones occupying the home, you have to wonder where they keep that 6-foot tarantula for the other eleven months of the year.


7. The Hungry House
Leading the Less is More campaign, this Halloween home doesn’t have a lot going on but it’s most definitely one of the more ominous of the bunch. Boasting nothing more than a couple stylish Jack-O-Lanterns, the fact that this home looks alive (and out to kill you) is reason enough to make this list.


8. The Tiny Terror
Judging by the picture, there’s not a lot of room at this small home for extensive decorations but that doesn’t seem to limit the visionaries. Getting the most bang for their buck, this humble home has enough Halloween eye candy to compete with the big hitters.


9. The Corvinestilor Castle

Of course, you can’t have Halloween and haunted houses without Count Dracula and the iconic castle that started it all. Topping the list for most impressive Halloween decorations is the Corvinestilor Castle in Transylvania because it doesn’t need decorations to make it any spookier than it already is – the legend and the architecture speak for themselves.

By Rob Jones

Via Build Direct