Tuesday, April 03, 2007

BoKlok: a new idea in housing


Ikea's cool idea that goes beyond just furniture is gaining in popularity. BoKlok (pronounced booklook) which means "smart living" in Swedish, this one involves the entire house. BoKlok's are houses that are not really the ready to assemble type houses, but they are affordable, energy efficient, and quick to build. The company has already build over 3,500 homes in Sweden and now are starting in the UK, in St James Village in Gateshead, which will be ready by the end of the year. The BoKlok dwellings are aimed at consumers who make between GBP15,00-30,000 a year, and usually coast less than GBP100,000. BoKlok is a joint venture between Ikea and Skanska, the Swedish construction giant.
The bestselling BoKlok design in Sweden has an exterior of blood-red weatherboard, square white windows and a pitched roof; it wouldn't look out of place in a typical Swedish town. Danish ones are dressed more fashionably, for example, with black cladding and steel balconies, and they have found it easier to build straight blocks rather than L-shaped ones on Norway's hilly terrain. Typically, it is situated among other housing types in a suburb of the city.

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