Whether you love or hate Sweden's most famous home furnishing export; Ikea I am sure there will be unanimously strong feeling about Ikea's latest venture into the world of urban planning and regeneration. I would be interested to know whether those who love to put more than Swedish meatball's in their home could get on with the idea of living in a whole neighbourhood conceived by the minds of our simplicity loving Swedish friends. That is the big idea from the big cheeses at Ikea.
Personally I only like Ikea for the very simple bits that you can't always justify spending loads of money on - like the odd bookshelf or plant pot. The idea of living the Ikea dream seems to me a cross between an Orwellian nightmare and Corbusier's love child and cries out for someone to say "stick to what you know best." Like the stores, when Ikea gets complicated / expensive, there is generally always a better product out there. I think the same would go for apartments. If they keep it simple and cheap they might do well. If they start trying to win Architecture awards, it might all go wrong.
There would be literally nothing to hand down to the grandkids thats for sure.
It does also make you wonder how they would deal with tricky urban elements - you can imagine conversations along the line of "well, if we straighten this river out and flatten this mountain we can squeeze in 2 extra apartments."
I wonder if you can flat pack a tower block?
Article inspired by Doug Saunders writing in The Globe.
Images / Conceptual design by Landprop services.
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