Antti Pirinen | MA, Spatial Design Doctoral Student | tel. +358 40 5300828 | antti.pirinen(at)uiah.fi
INDIVIDUALIZATION AND THE OFFERING OF HOUSING
Individualization of the society is affecting our lifestyles and housing preferences. There seems to be a growing emphasis on housing as means of personal fulfilment. In late-modern consumer society, the home is becoming an increasingly aesthetic commodity.
At the same time, the building and construction industry is undergoing a paradigm shift towards perceiving housing as a continuous, modular offering of spaces, products and services, based on customer needs and enabled by new technologies and lean production methods, such as mass customization. This requires new concepts and models connecting the users with the producers.
My research aims at a critical examination and understanding of these developments. What is the role of user experience in the processes of production and consumption of housing? How does individualization manifest itself in certain situations and experiences of living? How can these experiences contribute to the development of a more diverse offering of housing?
I work since 2001 at the Future Home Institute, currently as project manager. I am also a status member of the Graduate School on Housing Studies and Social Change, coordinated by Helsinki University of Technology´s Centre for Urban and Regional Studies.