OPEN

HOUSE

Inspired by the service-oriented mentality of New York, Open House anticipates a social evolution in which suburban homeowners supplement their incomes and develop new vocations by offering home-based services to the public. Open House took place as a one-day event on Saturday, April 23, 2011. The event launched with a symposium hosted by architect and curator Mark Wasiuta at Studio-X New York, an outpost of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, and was followed by a bus trip to Levittown, New York—the Long Island neighborhood widely considered the prototype of the modern American suburb—where visitors participated in nine house installations distributed throughout the community.

Even in periods of high foreclosures and unemployment, including during the Great Recession, suburban homes remain widely underutilized: washing machines mostly sit idle, picture windows frame views that go unnoticed, and attics sit empty. Open House encourages entrepreneurial invention by proposing new models for suburban housing that strike a balance between the private and public realms. Starting out as an economic argument in support of the struggling middle class, the project also responds to the challenges of urban sprawl and single-owner consumption. The proposed residential marketplace brings additional capital and density to neighborhoods and increases social cohesion through service exchange.

The installations transform each house into a hybrid residence and commercial space. Created and executed by architects, designers, and artists working in collaboration with the homeowners, the installations include a casino, a food pantry, a sign shop, and an “attention clinic,” where visitors stop for peer counseling. These self-made “illicit businesses” are operated by the homeowners. Another installation introduces a service-intensive master plan applied to a six-block section of Levittown, with proposals for multifamily dwellings and accessory dwelling units, currently prohibited by the zoning code. For one day, Open House eschews local regulations to imagine a new future for the American suburb.

Open House was created in collaboration with Droog and EFGH (Hayley Eber and Frank Gesualdi).