Today we will take you on a unique house tour, where future architecture is literally created with materials from the past.
If you don’t already know the story behind the Big Dig House, the living proof that infrastructure materials can be salvaged and reused to create amazing structures, here is a short summary of its unique history.
The house was designed by Cambridge architects Single Speed Design and was built using over 600,000 lbs of construction materials recycled from the Big Dig highway project in Boston. 
Steel columns, beams, concrete roadway etc from the demolished I-93 off-ramps were the primary materials of construction of this amazing house the cost of which did not exceed 150$ per square foot, since in most cases the owners only had to pay only for the shipping of the materials on site.
A testament of recycling this 3,400 square foot house opens up a whole new chapter in eco living and future architecture techniques and as stated in the Single Speed Design website, "Most importantly, the house 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."
Old buildings of Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability, situated in the campus’ are now beautifully renovated with enviromental sustainability. Conceived by Lord, Aeck & Sargent along with Gould Evans Associates, the $6 million renovation included asbestos abatement and standard modernization for classroom use along with a bundle of environmentally and sustainable enhancements. Their innovation turned a once dreary, old and dark building into a new institute filled with enough daylight to inspire its new inhabitants as they look for ways to improve the environment, the economy, and the social challenges we all face today.
One of the most obvious sustainable additions to the building is its six wind turbines that are mounted along the eastern edge of the roof. Each of the turbines is powered by thermal updrafts (it is located in Arizona after all) and provides 1,000 watts of power directly into the Arizona Public Service Grid. More energy generating capabilities will be added next year with the installation of a 24-killowatt photovoltaic solar array. Other sustainable additions include the generous use of recycled content throughout the building in the form of insulation, countertops, and even furniture along with the light sensors, an automated landscape irrigation system, and pervious paving to control storm water runoff.
With energy savings of more than 18% and more than a 50% reduction in water use, the building has its site set on attaining LEED Silver upon completion. Being the first institute of its kind to offer transdiciplinary degree programs geared at finding solutions to environmental, economic, and social challenges, the new home for Global Institute of Sustainability is making its mark and proving that re-invigorating something old can be just as good as building something new.
If you don’t already know the story behind the Big Dig House, the living proof that infrastructure materials can be salvaged and reused to create amazing structures, here is a short summary of its unique history.
The house was designed by Cambridge architects Single Speed Design and was built using over 600,000 lbs of construction materials recycled from the Big Dig highway project in Boston. 
Steel columns, beams, concrete roadway etc from the demolished I-93 off-ramps were the primary materials of construction of this amazing house the cost of which did not exceed 150$ per square foot, since in most cases the owners only had to pay only for the shipping of the materials on site.
A testament of recycling this 3,400 square foot house opens up a whole new chapter in eco living and future architecture techniques and as stated in the Single Speed Design website, "Most importantly, the house 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."
