IKEA BoKlok Flatpack houses spread Swedish gospel
by on 02.14.05
IKEA is taking flatpack construction to a new high – the BoKlok is a flatpack house offering hope to hundreds of thousands of people currently unable to buy a house in the UK. These timber frame, 1 or 2 bedroom homes will be available..
..for lower income families. Affordable housing is a testing issue for the government as high house prices over a decade forced key workers and local people to the urban margins. Well-tested in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden, where 2,000 BoKloks occupy 45 sites, a new Anglo-Swedish venture aims to offer the flatpack housing at 13 IKEA outlets. Most BoKloks will be offered through the Hyde Group housing association, Paramount Homes and Skanska, IKEA’s partner in Scandinavia. Brits have shown considerable enthusiasm for minimalist Swedish design, with a stampede of 6,000 customers recently at a north London IKEA store. Whether the BoKlok (translating as Live Smart) aesthetic, a hybrid of country-and-western meets summer holiday home, will meet the romantic and practical aspirations of the British public, let alone the planners, remains to be seen. A glance to the post-World War II ‘Cornish Unit’ prefab concrete homes, and others of the same ilk, designed over fifty years ago to meet similar urgent housing needs, still sit awkwardly in the landscape. Whatever happened to ‘local is beautiful’? ::Hyde Housing and ::Ikea Boklok [by © Alastair Fuad-Luke, 2005.]*Be sure to peruse other examples in our prefab category
Yo guys I live close to Heathrow airport and I would love to build a prefab house near by, I heard at the moment they are doing in north london, any one knows where and who can I contact to buy one...
thanks guys
cya later
Funny thing... Sears used to sell houses a century or so ago - some of them are still standing. Effectively the same sort of flatpack idea.
Were can i find out about flat pack house and were to buy them from hope you can help me
These things are just plane ugly, affordability is not seperate from good design. Also pre-fab is not synonymous with environmentaly friendly. I wish this website would get off its prefab trip, it is but one solution to environmentaly responsible living. Original unique design that portrays craftsmaship in both planning and building outshines any IKEA or concrete cookie cutter crap building any day.
Nik, you're kinda wrong. Whilst I agree that affordability is not seperate from good design, the IKEA Boklok idea is aimed at people who are finding it difficult to first time buy and I can guarantee you that people will be fighting to get their hands on their "concrete cookie cutter" home. I, for one, am desperate to get in on this and I dare you to try finding me a home in the London area, that is AS aesthetically pleasing (and by that, I mean relatively pleasing - I accept that they're not stunning, or unique, or bursting with character, but are comfy looking, fun, funky albeit samey) and financially affordable. Of course original unique design is better than mass produced conveyor belt clones, but most of just can't afford it. I'd rather have a gorgeous warehouse conversion flat oozing with design and style...but I know I'm gonna have to start off somewhere else and work my way up.
Can you send me full contact details for Boklok? I am prt of the Organising Team for the Belfast idealhome and we'd be keen to talk to Boklok about bringing a showhouse to the event.
i smell british old fashioned its over your head stobery pre fabs are very very well made these days and only uninformed middle class brits commonly nown as TWATS dont get it every developed counrtry on earth builds houses with many building types its only the brits that dont get it its that obsetion with castles from are past or somthing they even build homes from poly blocks in holland and iv even seen new homes built from hemp and straw bails if you carnt get your head round it consider yourself a ignorant fool with a out of date stiff upper lip its this backward mentallity that makes me ashamed to be british GROW UP
i want a ikea house how do i go about it ???????? anybody know ????? i live in leeds . where in leeds are they going to be ?????? please let me know a.s.a.p
Was there a point hiding somewhere in there, "truth teller"? Sounds to me more like you've just got a chip on your shoulder. What nik and First Time Buyer said are both valid points; the second answering sensibly concerns raised by the first. I too would unhappy with any form of affordable housing that is 'samey', or just plain ugly - primarily because, if it caught on, we'd be seeing rather a lot of it about. At the same time, the current housing crisis is real, and we can't afford to be too precious. However, I believe that with a little effort and imagination there's no reason why housing can't be both affordable AND aesthetically pleasing, so why not aim for this goal? Finally, the points raised be the previous corespondents were about design, rather than building materials and supposed jingoistic fixations with castles. If you plan to launch any more invectives, against uninformed middle-class Brits ("twats" as you seem to prefer) or any other group, I suggest you come up with a more coherent argument than the one above.
Can you send me a brochure & price list for the flat pack houses?
Or where can I get one from?
Andy
Please will You send me all information and prices about Your Prefab Houses.This is about a great proposal.
Frank Liefooghe
Zeugsteeg 26
9000 GHENT
Belgium
Thank You forewards
Nik, check out this article and the other link.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2005/05/31/PrefabHome/
http://www.glidehouse.com/
A friend just introduced me to the concept of pre-fab homes as an alternative, so I am still learning. However, the Glidehouse seem sthe way to go. It is also, IMO, more aesthetically appealing than BloKlok.
good morning
please send me all information of the houeses
kan i build in holland????
thank you katja
sorry for my bad englisch
In the UK we are building pre-fab houses. There is a negative association in some peoples minds. There are many who still live happily in post war pre-fabs. We have many issues affecting the pre-fab market in the UK. Other than perception we have reluctance within the Building Insurance field. Planning Laws in the UK mean buildings need to 'fit in' with their surroundings. Then we have possible climate change in the future. This may make lightweight pre-fab buildings require air-conditioning - not a very green solution to CO2 emmissions. Bill Dunster (Creator of the Carbon Neutral BedZED development) argues this within his work. The Peabody Trust has been experimenting with large scale pre-fab housing developements in the UK. The pre-fab issue is at the fore in the UK construction Industry.
I would grant you that the majority of the UK house purchasers outside London do like the traditional pitched roof brick box.
Hello all,
i've just been investigating this. More details on the UK Ikea flat pack homes can be found at:
http://www.boklok.com/
regards
Chris
Please forward relevant details of the Ikea Flat pack housing please.
I think that prefab housing is a great idea. I like the fact that it is affordable though i do think that it is only suitable for cities and preferably on brown field or regenerated sites.
There is a problem with the future and what changes i climate this will bring but i think that large windows and extra insulation would go a long way in helping to cope with this sort of problem.
Put it this way, i have no choice other than to be interested in this as i need a house. I dont mind the lack of aesthetic compliance with the surroundings because these buildings are not permanent. It is an excellent idea.
The idea of the prefab houses sound fantastic and economical as well. I wish to take advantage so can you please arrange to furnish the brochures, including pricing?
My address is:
2 Saddlers Close,
Hatch End,
Middlesex,
HA5 4BA,
United Kingdom.