Big Dig House Lexington, Mass., 2006
The structural system for this house is almost wholly composed of steel and concrete from Boston’s Big Dig, utilizing more than 600,000 pounds of recycled material, including pieces of the I-93 off-ramps. Large upper-level plantings blur relationships between interior and exterior spaces.



The Big Dig House in particular is an example of Hong and Park’s ability to take risks. They had been given the chance, by a developer willing to try something different, to design the Valentine Houses, a multifamily housing structure in Cambridge. A contractor in charge of destroying the residual materials from the Big Dig’s construction saw the Valentine project and contacted SsD. “He had a junkyard full of concrete and steel and this idea to recycle it into a house,” says Hong. Because Park and Hong’s client was willing to let his home serve as a research project, it was a success. Using over 600,000 pounds of recycled materials, the home has become a prototype for recycling large, heavy materials, and a bit of a curiosity in the area.

Single Speed Design