In Sweden, Ikea has built little housing develpments composed of its BoKlok prefab apartment blocks — now they're moving the idea to the UK.
BoKlok homes don't exactly come in flatpacks, but they're not far off. The timber-framed buildings are almost entirely prefabricated. They are usually brought to the site on the back of trucks as pre-assembled units, like Portakabins, with the interiors already fitted out. Each apartment is made up of two of these units, which are simply moved into position by crane. Put on the roof and exterior wall cladding, plumb and wire it in, and it's ready to live in. The typical BoKlok arrangement is an L-shaped, two-storey block with three apartments on each floor. One such block can be put up in a day…
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. There is a limited choice of colour and cladding types, plus national variations. 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. The one in Malmo that Magnusson takes me to, though, looks anonymously modern, with plain white walls, tall windows, wooden balconies and walkways. Typically, it is situated among other housing types in a suburb of the city.
(via We Make Money Not Art)
