Ikea BOKLOK Houses
27Feb08
I think it is generally accepted that Ikea designs and produces some pretty good looking affordable modern furniture. The question is, can that same knack for affordable and modern transfer over to architecture? Ikea would like to think so, and has been working diligently to make pre-fab townhouses and apartments for middle income families. Dubbed BoKlok for “smart living” these prefab units go up as quick as 16 weeks start to finish and cost around $260,000 for a two bedroom townhouse. While those numbers don’t sound too bad, I have to admit I thought that architecturally they would look a little nicer. What do you think?
Via Treehugger
More info here at the BoKlock UK site.
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5 Responses to “Ikea BOKLOK Houses”
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Agree… the white parts almost look like unfinished Tyvek wrap. They could have chosen some better exterior material there.
And the stairs/ramp thing… needs a re-think.
it looks cheap, it’s reminiscent of a 50s motel and the stairs are a big distraction. It would be better if it were all wood-clad. There are some other designs on the http://www.boklok.co.uk site but nothing that says affordable style.
This building looks to be 6 one and two bedroom flats. Judging by the size and quantity of windows (and just about everything else), it looks like keeping material costs down was a high priority. I don’t know anything about the area where these are, but I’d guess these would be considered lower income alternatives. I’d further speculate that the land must have been pretty pricey, because $200k for a 495sf flat, wouldn’t be cheap for most areas in the US. If those assumptions are true, that they’re bringing new, modern(ish) home ownership to those that couldn’t otherwise get it, I say more power to them. What I want to know is how many allen head screws do you have to use to put one together out of the box!?!?
It looks as though a monkey with a machine gun, and low wits, got together with an arm holding a pen. Together they created a small piece of heaven.
I’m with modernemama. That staircase makes it look like a cheap roadside motel. I also think it would look better if they wrapped either the whole bottom or whole top half of the structure in wood, rather then capping just a small end portion… it makes it look unfinished.