Home Design Service

26 June 2001–08 July 2001 / Leidsche Rijn

The Leidsche Rijn housing project is currently under construction in Utrecht. 30,000 houses are being built in what is the largest vinex-locatie (new housing development) in the Netherlands. The first buyers have already moved into their new homes, but Leidsche Rijn will take at least another ten years to “finish.” In the coming few years, Leidsche Rijn will be characterized by simultaneous living and building in a transitional phase.  

Home Design Service is a project by the artist Apolonija Sustersic. According to Sustersic, who studied architecture, the “temporary” is a neglected subject in architecture, for those in the profession are always concerned with creating something permanent: everything is planned with the idea that it will be permanent. Thus, mobile or temporary structures are, by definition, deviations from the regulated, the controlled. In Sustersic’s view, however, such uncontrolled change is actually an essential element of the whole process leading from planning to living. The most “uncontrolled” aspect of a new housing project is the interior design of the houses and the layout of the gardens. Once the houses are completed, the occupants move in and the decorating and furnishing starts – the interior becomes a reflection of individual and personal ideas about living.  

In the Home Design Service, temporarily set up by Apolonija Sustersic, the artist will give free advice and information on interior design to current and future residents of Leidsche Rijn. The platform for this advice center will be the Casco-mobile, with an awning and terrace added for the occasion. From 21 June to 8 July 2001, the mobile Home Design Service will be open to visitors on Langerakbaan in Leidsche Rijn. The Casco-mobile will be equipped with a library on interior design. Here, you will be able to browse through books, periodicals and catalogs. As usual in the Casco-mobile, a cup of coffee will be served to visitors.  

During the project in Leidsche Rijn, Casco will be showing video interviews with some residents of the new estate. They will be talking to Apolonija Sustersic about the interiors of their own homes, and these will form the backdrop for the videos.  Apolonija Sustersic (Lljubljana, 1965) studied art and architecture. In her work she explores the social, political and economic implications of architecture in the physical and the psychological sense, as well as the relationship between “the object’”and the user. Her most recent projects focus on the changing functions of architecture and the urban landscape, where living and working are increasingly surrounded by commerce, entertainment and culture. Apolonija Sustersic’s projects include Juice Bar for Manifesta 2 (1998), Light Therapy for Moderna Museet (1999) and City Lounge for the Berlin Biennale (2001).

Source: https://apolonijasustersic.com/portfolio/home-design-service/visual-documentation/

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A coffee mobile departing from its homebase Casco to different areas of Utrecht to inform its residents and passers-by about Casco’s activities.

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