Have you ever walked through IKEA, sat down and said — I could just live here? Well here's your chance. The big box furniture and home goods behemoth is expanding their world of home decor to an entire community in their first urban planning project, to take place in East London next year.
An East London neighborhood will be transformed into a self-contained IKEA-styled micro city called Strand East. It will comprise 1,200 apartments and homes, to accommodate 6,000 residents at different income levels, as well as some commercial spaces. They envision this pre-assembled town to be a beautiful and peaceful environment without rows of unsightly parked cars; all automobiles will be housed underground.This prototype town is an effort to help solve London's problematic housing situation.
If Strand East pans out well, you may just find yourself moving into an Ikea-Land near you in the not so distant future.
Read more: The Globe and Mail.
(Image: The Globe and Mail)
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I'm actually really excited about this and can't wait to see it. I know I"m not alone in this.
"Pre-assembled" -- from Ikea!!!
I wonder if people who ripped on the Thomas Kinkade community will love this.
I wonder if the buildings will last as long as the furniture.
Will there be a tv show to accompany the new 'hood? Strand Eastenders?
waiting for the hex key/flat pack jokes.
I think IKEA gets a bad rap... I've had malm dressers for 8 years and they're perfect. I've not moved houses, but I have moved them within my house. Still working and looking great. I have a malm bed and a big old wardrobe and a couch. All of which is in fine condition even though I use it.
I'm sure they have some cheap things, and IKEA is pretty much all I can afford since I'm so young.... but stop picking on the furniture quality!
i agree with mmilham. we have had a malm bedroom set for 5 years and are very happy with it. we've also have billy bookcases and have outfitted our bar and bathroom with their cabinets. we have a huge benno wall unit too. i've been very happy with it. you get what you pay for....if you want something super sturdy and solid wood, it's not going to be $60! duh,
I love Ikea! Can't wait to see what this community is going to look like. Fun! :) I love going to Ikea and pretending I live in one of their little displays. So,this is right up my alley!
Nobody else see the date on the original article...
@JulianFox We wondered about that too, but we believe it's legit. Here's a link to a 2011 about Ikealand in HuffPoUK
@JulianFox I have also included a link for Strand East's website for further information.
http://strandeast.com/
MMILHAM - I'm also young and on an extremely small budget, but I've sworn off Ikea after one particularly crappy piece of furniture (Leksvik?) and now prefer to buy second-hand instead. You can get far superior quality for the same money.
As a Londoner I'm kind of embarrassed that we're going to have a Ikea town here. Surely we could have come up with something that didn't involve an exploitative multinational company known for its crummy furniture? With the huge wealth of design talent in London - and even specifically east London - this seems really disappointing.
I am definitely interested in seeing what this turns out like, especially the underground car situation which sounds very intriguing but I am as skeptical as @REALLY? on this one. While I don't think they would necessarily cheap out on a community in the way they do on the scores of completely destroyed pieces of particle board furniture I see at Goodwill every visit, I would think London has plenty of incredible designers who would be up to the task of designing this themselves. I wonder who IKEA will source to work on this, if they will picking up London talent or what.
Also sort of curious what, if anything, they would be tearing down to make this. I always find it kind of hilarious when ultra-modern developments tout their "historic surroundings."
there will always be ppl who knock IKEA, and ppl who embrace it for what it is... affordable items for real ppl.
the concept is interesting, and i am sure there will ppl who love it.
I don't want to be sceptical but I can't help it...if successful it will probably be expensive and drive up prices of surrounding areas. It certainly won't help the housing situation...drop in the bucket. Especially when chances are they will be snapped up by foreign students with wealthy parents. Sorry for being so negative, but Im not convinced...
I concur regarding IKEA quality. It gets an undeserved rap. I've had IKEA furniture go through 4 moves and it's still in perfect condition. A friend has an IKEA desk that's 30 years old and it's perfectly fine. They might use inexpensive, often cheap-looking materials, but for the most part it's pretty sturdy stuff.
Sounds great - just can't get past the thought of yet more people trying to squeeze onto the Central line.....