Ikea Goes Levittown

Weird story over at Archinect that’s likely been making the rounds. Ikea, on Friday, two weeks before they were going to originally, announced that they’re going to start building the first 500 houses in England as the first part of a much larger development they have planned. The houses, for all intents and purposes, are almost identical, save for a few differences here and there with three individual models. Here’s some from Building Design (registration is required if you want to read the rest):

Speaking afterwards Mike Kirk, development director for Live Smart @ Home, admitted that some architects would be horrified at the idea of a building that made no effort to respond to its context, but added: “If you think about the new towns such as Milton Keynes, there’s a vernacular architecture but those [new] homes fit in very well.”

Ikea homes will be at least one-fifth cheaper than any other new home in the area and, the company has pledged, will be within the price range of a single parent.

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