A group of artists from The Outsiders Union, together with Casco, have opened up the old Terwijde farmhouse in Utrecht’s Leidsche Rijn area and transformed it into a new commons! The farmhouse is now open for your visit and you are welcomed to make use of it for collaborative or autonomous activities. May 17, our dear Avan Omar (DAI, 2017) presents a workshop for children.

| tag: Utrecht
 
 
 

Come visit, experience, use, and organize at Terwijde farmhouse
, now open every week from Thursday to Saturday, 12:00 until 21:00 hrs, Sunday, from 12:00 until 18:00 hrs,


 
Location:
Terwijde farmhouse
Louis Armstrongboulevard 50, Utrecht
(opposite Utrecht Terwijde Station, and in the middle of Terwijde shopping mall)
 
Opening hours:
Thursday – Saturday, 12:00 – 21:00
Sunday, 12:00 – 18:00
 
The revitalization of the farmhouse is central to Erfgoed (Agricultural Heritage and Land Use). Erfgoed is the first project by Center for Ecological (Un)learning (CEU), a long-term co-initiative by The Outsiders Union and Casco to cultivate art-ecological practice in this new part of the city of Utrecht.
 
The farmhouse was once part of a large tract of farmland in Utrecht, most of which has now become residential and commercial infrastructure, such as a shopping mall and a train station. The land lay fallow until 1998, when it was developed into Leidsche Rijn and annexed to the city of Utrecht.
 
2017 marked the Erfgoed pilot period in which the CEU sought to unravel stories about the farmhouse and establish it for common use. Since then, Leidsche Rijn-based The Outsiders Union and Utrecht-based Casco have started operating the farmhouse in earnest. This operation is made possible with the support of many local artists as well as the Van Vuuren family, owners of the farmhouse, and neighbours of the farmhouse.
 
The “life” of the farmhouse is now open to you. You’re invited to experience and use the farmhouse, where we will slowly and hopefully transform it into a common ground for the uncommon, making space for plants, insects and animals, the city and the rural, land and construction, and practicing different ways of living together.
 

 
Terwijde farmhouse has a kitchen, library and garden with compost, as well as a chicken coop and insect hotel and – importantly – an area for exhibition making and communal activities. There is also a workshop program for children and senior citizens called De Groei Afdeling (The Growth Department) organised by artist Merel Zwarts. In these workshops, children and senior citizens work together to explore nature through different activities and art projects. Artist Avan Omar will also organise a program for children up to eight years old that focuses on sound, body, movement, and object making. Follow the diverse programing on the Erfgoed Facebook page or by visiting Casco’s website.
 
In September, harvest season, Casco and the Outsiders Union will open a discussion on the next step of Erfgoed (Agricultural Heritage and Land Use) and other Center for Ecological (Un)learning activities.
 
Schedule of upcoming activities
 
“Kippenhok Bouwen”
Thursday, 26 April and Friday, 27 April
Join us in building a coop for three chickens that are new to the farm.
 
“Hop Planten”
Sunday, 6 May
There will be hop growing in the garden will you help us build a structure to make the plants grow? When we harvest later this summer, we will brew our own Terwijde Terror Triple beer.
 
“Adventure Playground”
Friday, 11 May
First workshop of De Groei Afdeling for children aged six and up.
What is your perfect playground? Come and look for materials, build, and make your own rules.
 
Painting workshop for children
Thursday, 17 May
Organised by artists Avan Omar, children will explore the colours they encounter in the different foods they eat.
 
“Op Stap met Riek Bakker”
Friday, 18 May
To celebrate Leidsche Rijn’s twenty-year anniversary you can join a bike tour around the neighbourhood with urbanist and architect Riek Bakker, who was instrumental in the design of this new neighbourhood in 1998.
 
Are you interested in getting to know the farmhouse, participating in the project, or contributing something yourself? Please contact Erik Uitenbogaard.

Visit The Outsiders Union website for information on their past projects. 
 

 
Additional reading

A number of Casco’s previous projects have focused on Utrecht’s Leidsche Rijn, or have dealt with concerns similar to the Erfgoed project.



Home Design Service, Apolonija Sustersic (2001)
Super Utrecht, Nathan Coley, Jens Haaning, Maureen Mooren and Daniel van der Velden, Hotel, Olivier Richon (2002–3)
Entanglement ~ Urban Trajectories (2013)

Cultivate or Revolutionize? Life between Apartment and Farmland (2014)
INLAND, Fernando García-Dory (2015)