[ Single Speed Design ] Big Dig Building

Architects: Single Speed Design
Location： North Cambridge, MA, USA
Programme： Housing, Commercial
Project year： 2008
Site Area： 2,335 sqm
Constructed Area： 2,936 sqm
Images: Single Speed Design

Most are familiar with Boston’s ongoing “Big Dig”- the Central Artery Tunnel Project that is one of the largest construction undertakings in American urban history. Few, however, give thought to the massive amount of waste that accompanies construction on this scale, namely the dismantling of the existing elevated highway and the miles of temporary structure used and discarded throughout the project.

So far, public and local governments have remained tacit about the future of millions of tons of materials that must be disposed of as this monumental endeavor moves forward. Like the urban renewal frenzy associated with the inception of the original elevated highway, is its demolition a convenient bookend to the social and environmental scars caused 50 years ago? Now as in then, the heroic effort of building an artery through downtown Boston involves the erasure of existing structures in the name of ‘progress.’ Where the failure of the original structure can now be clearly measured by the way it divided neighborhoods, the downside of the Big Dig’s ‘progress’ is more elusive yet just as severe: it has the potential to negatively impact the environment and economy as materials that contain a high degree of embodied energy are destroyed.

As a palpable alternative to this urban scale waste, the Big Dig Building proposes to relocate, then reuse these infrastructural materials as building components, adapting them to uses ranging from structural systems to cladding. Moreover, if time = money, proven highway fabrication technologies can be utilized to erect a Big Dig Building, drastically expediting the construction sequence. Finally, as this recycled infrastructure offers the compelling potential to create buildings that can withstand much higher loads than conventional structural systems, the social ramifi cations of “heavy” in relation to “dwelling” must be brought to light as a new source of innovation.

from  archdaily


보스톤에선 빅딕이라는 프로젝트가 진행중이라고 합니다.

 ♣빅딕이란~?

*보스턴의 도시재개발 별칭으로서

'The Central Artery/Third Harbor Crossing Project (중앙동맥 및 항구

관통터널공사)로 전체의 교통체계를 지상의 고가도로 중심에서 지하 고속도로

중심으로 바꾸고, 지상은 무려 300에이커에 달하는 녹지공간으로 완전히 개편하는 공사.

[출처] Boston <Big Dig>|작성자 뒤뒤

요런걸 하는건데...
대충 보니 규모가 장난이 아니더군요.
지금 소개하는 건물은 요 프로젝트로 인해 폐기되는 infrastructure material를 다시 새로운 infrastructure로 재생산 하기 위한 아이디어라고 합니다. 고가도로에 쓰였던 기둥과 보, 하부의 큰 플레이트들이 보이네요.