IKEA Planning a 6,000 Residence in Portland, OR

ATTENTION: Modular Home Factories.  IKEA IS COMING!

You get a certain feeling that you’re getting lost in a craftily designed labyrinth when you enter an IKEA store. But the next question is: will that discomforting almost-warmth of a prototype apartment be the same in the prefabricated Ikea housing development that is in the works in Portland, Oregon?

IKEA is in the planning stage of a project that will place 6,000 neighbors into a neglected corner of a city and design an entire urban world around it that is made of eco-friendly material and appliances.

Proposed IKEA neighborhood in Portland, OR will be similar to this one in London

“We are keeping the Ikea philosophy: We don’t want to produce for the rich and the super-rich; we want to produce for the families, for the people,” Harald Muller said, the head of LandProp which is the property-development branch of Inter IKEA.

When it is completed, it will look like a reproduction of the historic downtown neighborhoods you find the central parts of London and Paris, with car-free streets that are lined with simple townhouses and ground-floor-access apartments in five story rows. The houses will be fully owned by Ikea, meaning that it is an all-rental private neighborhood that is run and overseen by a private company.

IKEA is said to be setting up and promoting things like farmer’s markets, antique shops and outdoor flower stalls. Presumably, it means keeping out cheque-cashing shops, Internet cafes and bookmakers.
As the Ikea people repeatedly tell anyone who will listen, this place will not be an Ikea.

The ultimate IKEA bed

There will not be Paong armchairs adorning the living rooms and Billy bookcases covering the walls. The houses will not require Allen keys to assemble. And there will not, the company insist, be an Ikea store anywhere near the neighborhoods.