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.
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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.
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The ultimate IKEA bed |
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