Boklok, The Ikea House

Even though this product is a few years old, I wanted to take some time to talk about it, especially after my last posting about the "Universal world house." IKEA, the Swedish company we all know so well for making affordable furniture of poor durability, put out their Boklok (which translates to "smart living") house in 2007.

Though the company claims that it went to great lengths to consider aesthetics in the house design, it looks horrid to me. In most of the examples I've seen online, they are all "blockish" with very little consideration for allowing adequate natural light to enter the spaces. Also, the claims that it is very affordable, which is supposed to be the main selling point, doesn't make the slightest sense to me as prices range from €150,000 to €222,000 for between 46 and 81 square meters (495-872 square feet). I don't really have a good sense of what housing and accommodation is like in the U.K and Europe in general as its been many years since I lived outside of the United States but that sounds like a lot of money for very little space. For that much money, one can buy a very comfortable house in anywhere in the south of the United States so to pay that much for a space that is just about the size of my apartment when I was in college seems absolutely ridiculous to me.

Another thing that I find odd is why anyone would trust IKEA to build a house for them when the very same IKEA is notorious for making furniture that never lasts. Although they say that in the case of the Boklok, their professionals will assemble it for you, unlike their furniture, it still does not make me feel any more comfortable with it. If IKEA can't make bookshelves with a decent life-span, why should anyone dare to live in anything they have a hand in? Certainly not for over €200,000! Thank you very much but I prefer my suburban track home to that thing.

The only good that I see this contraption, for that is what it is, being useful for is solely for temporary shelter. This and the universal house would have been very good to have back in the aftermath of Katrina. When faced with a disaster like that which displaces so many people from their homes, one of the biggest dilemmas is how to find quick accommodation for everyone. The Boklok and universal house would be quick to set up and relatively easy enough to manage. Outside of that, I think they are a waste of time and definitely money. I have not actually seen them anywhere though I came across some old blogs from 07 on which many residents in London where excited about them and wondering where they could be purchased. I hope they found other alternatives.



Image obtained from spigel online
For more information, check: www.spiegel.de/international