Droog and Diller Scofidio+Renfro reimagine Levittown with ′Open House′

On Saturday, April 23 the conceptual Dutch design company Droog and Diller Scofidio + Renfro presented “Open House,” a project that offered dialogue for possible new social and economic models to revitalize pre-existing suburban neighborhoods. The one-day event began with a symposium at Columbia’s off-site Studio-X in Downtown Manhattan, followed by a field trip to Levittown, Long Island, where nine homes from the fabled, archetypal post-war American suburb were transformed into residential marketplaces with experimental installations by designers, architects, and homeowners.

(Image by EFGH courtesy Open House)

“We were inspired by the service economy in New York, where people are outsourcing everything from dog walking to love coaching,” Renny Ramakers, co-founder and director of Droog, told the Levittown Tribune. “This service-oriented mentality could be inspiring for people living in the suburbs, especially in economically challenging times.”

The symposium, featuring talks from Ramakers, Charles Renfro (partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro), Heleen Mees (economist, Tilburg University), Roo Rogers (entrepreneur and director, Redscout Ventures), Mary Ellen Carroll (conceptual artist) and moderated by Mark Wasuita (Columbia University, GSAPP), kicked off the event with a bundle of critical framing issues.

(Image by EFGH courtesy Open House)

Mees revisited the Marxist notion that “culture follows structure,” and how the reach of the service industry in urban cities–abundant and often highly specialized, from doormen to baristas and janitors–contrasted vastly with the experience in suburbs, where sprawl necessarily lowers density and the ability to sustain such a fluid economic model. Wasuita spoke of the changing ideology of suburbia and the individual, citing marijuana growhouses in California residences as an extreme example of how an individual’s identity can transform by practicing an alternative use of space. Rogers spoke of collaborative consumption, a system that places on emphasis on service over ownership, as demonstrated by ZipCar’s successful car sharing model, while Carroll discussed a long-term project in Houston that includes the repositioning of a house in nearby Sharpstown, Texas, a planned community whose demographics have changed radically over the last decades.

(Image by EFGH courtesy Open House)

All tied into the driving ideas behind the Open House project, which, according to Renfro sought to help people “find their inner service provider” as a means of generating an alternative economy.

Among the re-imaginings that transformed each home into a personal business: House Dress by L.E.FT playfully wrapped the building exterior in a giant skirt, turning its interior into a casino; Bright Dawn Farm designed by Freecell (pictured) transformed a backyard into an agrarian farm with a 60-foot linear greenhouse; and an installation by EFGH visualized a service-intense masterplan applied to a six-block case study of Levittown.

While some designs were loftier than others, the Open House project shows creative ways to generate revenue from home, beyond mowing your neighbor’s lawn.

Open House is the second of New York-based conceptual projects by Droog Labs, the experimental think-tank arm of the Dutch design company. The first, “Pioneers of Change,” took place on Governor’s Island in 2009.

(Image by EFGH courtesy Open House)

Homeowners could adapt their existing homes to incorporate a service that is open to the public.

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Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin. Diller Scofidio + Renfro Studio

Diller Scofidio + Renfro Studio. Founded in 1981, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) is a design studio whose practice spans the fields of architecture, urban design, installation art, multi-media performance, digital media, and print. With a focus on cultural and civic projects, DS+R’s work addresses the changing role of institutions and the future of cities. The studio is based in New York and is comprised of over 100 architects, designers, artists and researchers, led by four partners--Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin.

DS+R completed two of the largest architecture and planning initiatives in New York City’s recent history: the adaptive reuse of an obsolete, industrial rail infrastructure into the High Line, a 1.5 mile-long public park, and the transformation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ half-century-old campus. The studio is currently engaged in two more projects significant to New York, scheduled to open in 2019: The Shed, the first multi-arts center designed to commission, produce, and present all types of performing arts, visual arts, and popular culture, and the renovation and expansion of The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Most recently, the studio was also selected to design: Adelaide Contemporary, a new gallery and public sculpture park in South Australia; the Centre for Music, which will be a permanent home for the London Symphony Orchestra; and a new collection and research centre for the V&A in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Recent projects include the 35-acre Zaryadye Park adjacent to the Kremlin in Moscow; the Museum of Image & Sound on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro; The Broad, a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles; the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley; the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University in New York; and The Juilliard School in Tianjin, China.

DS+R’s independent work includes the Blur Building, a pavilion made of fog on Lake Neuchâtel for the Swiss Expo; Exit, an immersive data-driven installation about human migration at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris; Charles James: Beyond Fashion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Arbores Laetae, an animated micro-park for the Liverpool Biennial; Musings on a Glass Box at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris; and Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design at the Jewish Museum in New York. A major retrospective of DS+R’s work was mounted at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Most recently, the studio designed two site-specific installations at the 2018 Venice Biennale and the Costume Institute’s Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. DS+R also directed and produced The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o’clock, a free, choral performance featuring 1,000 singers atop the High Line, co-created with David Lang.

DS+R has authored several books: The High Line (Phaidon Press, 2015), Lincoln Center Inside Out: An Architectural Account (Damiani, 2013), Flesh: Architectural Probes (Princeton Architectural Press, 2011), Blur: The Making of Nothing (Harry N. Abrams, 2002), and Back to the Front: Tourisms of War (Princeton Architectural Press, 1996).

DS+R has been distinguished with the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture, Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential" list, the Smithsonian Institution's 2005 National Design Award, the Medal of Honor and the President's Award from AIA New York, and Wall Street Journal Magazine's 2017 Architecture Innovator of the Year Award. Ricardo Scofidio and Elizabeth Diller are fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and are International Fellows at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

Elizabeth Diller

Elizabeth Diller, (Poland,1954), is a partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Alongside partner Ricardo Scofidio, Diller’s cross-genre work has been distinguished with TIME’s "100 Most Influential People" list and the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture.

Elizabeth Diller has also received the Wolf Prize in Architecture. Most recently, she led two cultural works significant to New York: The Shed and the expansion of MoMA. Diller also co-created, -directed and -produced The Mile-Long Opera, an immersive choral work staged on the High Line. Diller is a member of the UN Council on Urban Initiatives and a Professor of Architectural Design at Princeton University.

Ricardo Scofidio

Ricardo Scofidio, AIA (New York,1935), is a partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Alongside partner Elizabeth Diller, Ric’s cross-genre work has been distinguished with TIME’s "100 Most Influential People" list and the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture. He led the design of the High Line – the adaptive reuse of an obsolete, industrial rail infrastructure into a 1.5 mile-long public park, Blur Building – a pavilion made of fog on Lake Neuchâtel for the 2002 Swiss Expo, and contributed to the redesign of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and The Broad in Los Angeles.

Ric spearheads many of the studio’s independent works, including Soft Sell, a video installation in an abandoned porn theatre in Times Square; Tourisms: suitCase Studies, an investigation of American tourist attractions at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; and Musings on a Glass Box for the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris. He is a Professor Emeritus at The Cooper Union School of Architecture.

CHARLES RENFRO

Charles Renfro, AIA (Baytown, Texas in 1964) joined Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) in 1997 and became a Partner in 2004. He led the design and construction of the studio’s first concert hall outside of the US - The Tianjin Juilliard School in China - as well as the studio's first public park outside of the US - Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Charles has also led the design of much of DS+R's academic portfolio, with projects completed at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Brown University, the University of Chicago, and the recently completed Columbia Business School.

Charles is also leading the design of two projects in his native Texas: the renovation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas, and Sarofim Hall, a new home for Rice University’s Visual Arts department in Houston. Charles is the Co-President of BOFFO, a nonprofit organization that supports the work of queer LGBTQ+ BIPOC artists and designers. He has twice been recognized with the "Out100" list and has also been distinguished as a notable LGBTQ leader by Crain's New York Business. He is a faculty member of the School of Visual Arts.

Published on: May 4, 2011

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