Authenticity and commoditization at home: Interest and affect in the built environment

This paper investigates how interest and affect are entangled in the built environment of new Danish homes. The paper unfolds tensions and conflicts in the process from design through branding to occupancy of the house, and the relationship between authenticity and commoditization is explored.
In Denmark, the concept of authenticity is often associated with old houses. By way of design and branding, though, new neighbourhoods are made authentic, referring to their historical past, architectural uniqueness or sense of community. Based on a fieldwork in three new residential buildings in Copenhagen, the paper explores the inherent paradox of the staging of authenticity.
Rather than viewing the house solely from the perspective of the resident, the study ethnographically traces the entire process from design to occupancy in order to investigate how notions of value and authenticity are negotiated. The aim is to unfold how forces of commoditization and singularization intertwine as the house is transformed from an architectural expression into real estate for sale and eventually into somebody's home. What tensions are revealed in this process and how are interest and affect entangled?
Authenticity seems to be a key concept in contemporary branding of products, places, and more recently also private homes. On the one hand authenticity thus seems to be closely related to the commercial value of things, on the other hand the authentic is held to be an expression of an inner nature or feeling; that which is not staged and commoditized. The paper questions this apparent paradox and discusses how interest and affect are entangled in the built environment, as new homes are made authentic.