Archinect - News

IKEA launches personalized interior design service for U.S.

2023-04-12T11:44:00-04:00

IKEA U.S. has announced the launch of an interior design service that offers “professional, one-on-one interior design at an affordable price.” The service sees customers schedule an appointment online to connect with an IKEA interior design expert and embark on virtual sessions to establish a design for their space.

The service is available for both residential and commercial spaces and begins with a questionnaire in which customers describe their wish list and dream space. Customers are then paired with a designer based in their region, who they can communicate with on three virtual, one-on-one sessions to develop a mood board, floor plan, elevations, 3D renderings, a lighting plan, a product list, and tips for materials and furnishings.

With the design and products finalized, IKEA will coordinate the delivery, assembly, and installation of the products. According to IKEA, consumer interior design servi...

IKEA Foundation supports Better Shelter’s deployment of 5,000 modular shelters in response to earthquake in Turkey and Syria

2023-02-24T11:34:00-05:00

Swedish nonprofit Better Shelter has announced the provision of 5,000 emergency shelters in Turkey following the major earthquake that has so far killed over 47,000 people across the country and neighboring Syria. The shelters were made possible through a EUR 10 million (approximately USD 10.5 million) donation by the IKEA Foundation.

Better Shelter's modular units deployed in Hatay, Turkey after the recent earthquake. Image credit: Alaaddin Seyitisa for Better Shelter

“The generous support provided by the IKEA Foundation will give crucial protection to many thousand people in this difficult time,” said Better Shelter’s managing partner Johan Karlsson in a statement. “We are proud to support our humanitarian partners in Syria and Türkiye working day and night to help survivors. We now ask businesses to step forward and join our efforts to support even more people who have lost everything.”

Better Shelter's modular units deployed in Hatay, Turkey after the recent earthquake. Image cre...

IKEA unveils new plant-based food court concept

2022-12-22T16:41:00-05:00

Ingka Centres, a subsidiary of the Ingka Group (IKEA parent company), has announced its reinvention of the food court concept with Saluhall, a sustainable dining center inspired by Nordic food principles.

Saluhall is named after the Scandinavian-style “Market Hall.” It will serve food that is 80 percent plant-based, with the aim to increase to 100 percent plant-based in the future. It also has the goal of sending zero waste to landfills and having zero single-plastic usage. With 45 "Meeting Places" concepts operated by Ingka Centres globally, Saluhall will be their first food space to be entirely beef-free.

Image render courtesy of Ingka Centres.

“We are excited to be unveiling Saluhall, our bold and fresh Nordic take on the food hall concept,” said Ingka Centres’ Commercial and Digital Director, Jens Nielsen. “Our food offering has long been a key element of our meeting places, and with Saluhall we will go beyond dining to inspire the many pe...

IKEA partners with SunPower to sell solar panels in California stores

2022-05-25T16:30:00-04:00

IKEA U.S. has teamed up with SunPower, a California-based solar technology and energy services provider, to launch a new program called Home Solar with IKEA. Through this collaboration, members of the IKEA Family customer loyalty program will be able to purchase home solar solutions, available through SunPower, to generate and store their own renewable energy. The initiative is expected to launch in select California markets in Fall 2022.

Founded in 1985, SunPower sells, installs, and finances solar power products, including panels, batteries, mounting hardware, and monitoring software. This partnership forms part of IKEA’s mission to become circular and climate positive by 2030. IKEA already has an expansive renewable energy portfolio in the U.S., with two wind farms, two solar farms, two geothermal systems, seven biogas-fuel cells, and rooftop solar arrays on 90% of its locations. Additionally, the furniture and interiors giant announced STRÖMMA in August 2021, a project initiate...

IKEA completes bookcase-inspired store in Vienna, Austria

2022-05-23T10:57:00-04:00

Austria-based architecture office querkraft has completed an IKEA furniture store in the country’s capital Vienna, whose exterior was inspired by bookcases. Designed as a car-free venue, the scheme was developed with the vision of being a “good neighbor” for the surrounding community through a blend of public spaces and an active streetfront.

Photo © querkraft + christina häusler

The scheme’s defining feature is its shelf-like main façade. The 15-foot-deep zone envelops the building to provide shade for the indoors, while also accommodating terraces and greenery. In a move reminiscent of Paris’ Centre Pompidou, the external skeleton also houses infrastructural elements such as lifts, stairs, and building services.

Photo © querkraft + christina häusler

Inside, the 316,000 square foot scheme is supported by a 32x32 ft grid of reinforced concrete columns. From the ground level, a generous void extends up the building, visually linking the five retail floors occupied by IKEA. The top two...

Virgil Abloh, visionary in design and fashion, passes away at 41 following cancer battle

2021-11-28T15:43:00-05:00

The acclaimed designer Virgil Abloh has passed away at the age of 41 after a two-year battle with cancer. The American designer and entrepreneur was originally trained as an architect, but his impact on the design world was felt throughout fashion, interior design, music, and product design.

While a student of the Master in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Abloh developed an interest in fashion having been partly inspired by a Rem Koolhaas building under construction at the campus. Following collaborations with Kanye West, Abloh founded the high-end streetwear brand Off-White in 2013. In 2018, he become the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear ready-wear line, while one year later, he was appointed to the board of directors of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Related on Archinect: AMO-designed new flagship for Virgil Ab...

IKEA is selling renewable energy to households, starting in Sweden

2021-08-17T13:44:00-04:00

Furniture and interiors giant IKEA has announced that it is branching into selling renewable energy to households, beginning with its Swedish market in September 2021. Titled STRÖMMA, the scheme will operate as a monthly electricity subscription that allows people to source energy from wind and solar power and use an app to track their electricity usage.

In addition, customers who use IKEA solar panels, which are available in 11 countries, will be able to track their own energy production through the app and sell back surplus energy. Following a rollout of the renewable energy offer in Sweden, IKEA is hoping to expand the service, as well as its solar panel products, to all IKEA markets worldwide.

When sourcing energy, IKEA is aiming to offer electricity from solar and wind sites which are five years old or less, in order to spur the construction of new clean energy sites. The initiative also forms part of IKEA’s broader mission to become “climate positive” by 2030, reducing more gr...

Construction Update: Becker + Becker's transformation of a historic Marcel Breuer building is making progress

2021-08-16T15:20:00-04:00

A brutalist icon continues to make progress with its green makeover thanks to a new Passive House renovation by Becker + Becker.

The Pirelli Tire Building is perhaps one of New Haven, Connecticut’s most famous landmarks. The original nine-story structure was completed in 1970 and considered one of Marcel Breuer’s signature American buildings as well as one of the best examples of Brutalism in the country.

Architect and developer Bruce Becker is working to convert the former office building, famously owned by IKEA until recently, into a boutique hotel with 165 rooms that also has a net-zero rating with water, heating, and electricity provided on-site, a feature the architect says is unique to some of the challenges of the typology.

“The hospitality sector is probably one of the hardest ones to electrify, because the buildings tend to use energy more intensively,” Becker told Fast Company. “If they have on-site laundries, the convention is to use a lot of fossil fuels to run those. ...

As homes transform into offices and classrooms, IKEA's online sales increase

2020-10-08T12:30:00-04:00

Ikea's online sales got a big boost during the pandemic as millions of people turned their homes into makeshift schools and offices. The company said in a statement on Tuesday that online sales surged 45% over the 12 months to August, driven by 4 billion visits to its website. Outdoor furniture was the retailer's fastest-growing category, with sales of office furniture also performing strongly, a spokesperson told CNN Business.

Sales of household items in the United States were up more than a quarter in the three months to August versus the prior year, according to market research firm NPD Group., CNN reports. Moreover, according to CNN, even though online sales have surged, IKEA has recently opened 33 new stores in Moscow, Seoul, Shanghai, and Macau, with plans to expand into Mexico and the Philippines.

IKEA publishes 70-year catalog archive

2020-09-08T14:41:00-04:00

Last month the IKEA's Museum in Älmhult, Sweden opened an exhibition showcasing 70's years of their iconic catalogs. Due to the location, and COVID, the exhibition was limited to a small number of visitors. Fortunately, they have just published their Swedish catalog archive for all to see. Quite fascinating to see how furniture trends have evolved over the decades...

1950's...

1960's...

1970's...

1980's...

1990's...

1997 - Same year that Archinect launched!

2000's...

2010's...

2020's...

IKEA and LEGO Group partner to launch BYGGLEK

2020-08-27T19:58:00-04:00

IKEA and LEGO Group have launched the result of the long-awaited outcome of their collaboration. The two brands have come together to create BYGGLEK, a playful storage solution that consists of a series of storage boxes fit with LEGO studs and a special LEGO brick set. The system aims to provide children with a means of creativity and playfulness whilst promoting organization and tidiness.

"At IKEA, we always believe in the power of play. Play lets us explore, experiment, dream and discover," said Andreas Fredriksson, designer at IKEA of Sweden in a statement, "Where adults often see mess, children see a stimulating creative environment, and BYGGLEK will help bridge the gap between these two views to ensure more creative play in homes around the world. Plus, the BYGGLEK collection match perfectly with other IKEA products, making it possible to have your children’s creativity becoming a nice and unique piece of decoration at home."

Moreover, Rasmus Buch Løgstrup, designer at the LEG...

Build at-home furniture forts and tents with IKEA Russia's new interactive quarantine campaign

2020-05-19T12:57:00-04:00

Created by Russian agency Instinct, a new campaign launched by IKEA Russia offers parents instructions on how to make indoor forts and tents made from common household items such as chairs, couches, blankets, pillows and much more.

New IKEA store in Vienna omits parking and celebrates nature

2020-01-21T15:47:00-05:00

The querkraft-designed store seeks to create a friendly, open, unconventional, and informal experience for users. The new building will be situated in an urban setting, and with no allotted parking, customers are expected to arrive by means of public transportation. The structure will be constructed with prefabricated vertical concrete columns on a 10 x 10 meter grid, which the architects intended to promote flexibility for the company, the grid creates spaces that can shifted and repurposed through time. It is due for completion in 2021.

New Haven's Marcel Breuer building takes next step towards hotel redevelopment

2020-01-09T14:30:00-05:00

Plans to transform the historic Pirelli Building on Sargent Drive into a hotel have moved forward, as a local developer has purchased the property from IKEA for $1.2 million. The developer, Bruce Becker, purchased the 2.76-acre property at 500 Sargent Drive on Dec. 31. The deed was recorded in city land records Friday.

The Brutalist, Marcel Breuer-designed Pirelli Tire Building in New Haven could be experiencing a new life as a hotel after sitting vacant for years.

The New Haven Independent reports that the property's previous owner, IKEA, had "paved the way for the Pirelli project by winning approval in November 2018 from the City Plan Commission for a detailed plan and coastal site plan for the conversion of the building into a hotel with up to 165 rooms."

Tom Burr / New Haven, Phase 1, 2017, installation view, Bortolami, New Haven

In 2017, artist Tom Burr staged the show Body/Building inside the gutted belly of the 1960s building to draw renewed attention to the abandoned landmark that was partially demolished ("amputated," as Burr called it) in 2003 to make way for the adjacent IKEA parking lot.

Virgil Abloh teams up with IKEA for a new limited collection

2019-10-10T14:00:00-04:00

MARKERAD collection, a collaboration between IKEA x Virgil Abloh...This range stylishly fuses functionality with street cred and high cultural references, it brings you statement pieces that challenge tradition. The collection of 15 pieces consists of a range of fashion-forward homewares that cater towards fluid and contemporary living, including a day bed, table, chair, mirror, lighting, bed textiles, cabinet and accessories.

"It’s about elevating the anonymous, everyday icons that we use without noticing. When we put a doorstop on one of the legs of an ordinary chair we create something unexpected – an interruption," said Abloh about the collection.

Pavilion made from repurposed IKEA mattresses wins CHART's first prize

2019-09-04T14:10:00-04:00

This year's first prize for the CHART Art Fair, a 72-hour competition inviting young designers working in the Nordic region to explore the crossovers between art, design, and architecture by creating temporary pavilions, went to Sultan, a project that utilizes discarded IKEA mattresses as its base materials. Everything from the wood, internal components, foam, metal, and fabric is used to construct the innovative pavilion.

"The SULTAN project was a clear winner both because it is conceptually very strong and because its fabrication is very precise," said David Zahle from BIG, the chairperson of the competition jury. "Sultan raises a very important concern about how hard it is to recycle things in a modern society, because of the complexity of the society we’ve come to live in," he continued.

Sultan pavilion. Photo: Joakim Züger

The project was developed by Anne Bea Høgh Mikkelsen, Katrine Kretzschmar Nielsen, Klara Lyshøj, and Josefine Østergaard Kallehave. An international jury was ...

IKEA ramps up smart home product development plan

2019-08-23T14:00:00-04:00

IKEA Home smart was initiated as a project in 2012 with the ambition to enrich life at home by incorporating digital elements and technologies into products and solutions. Several launches within the smart home has followed since then and now IKEA has taken the strategic decision to invest even more in the home smart area by establishing IKEA Home smart as its own business unit within IKEA of Sweden.

Björn Block, the Head of the new Ikea Home smart Business Unit said, in a recent press release: "At IKEA we want to continue to offer products for a better life at home for the many people going forward. In order to do so we need to explore products and solutions beyond conventional home furnishing."

IKEA is quickly establishing itself as a contender in the smart home space, challenging contenders such as Amazon and Google. They have chosen to pursue heavier investment in product development and collaboration with their digital partners. The company hopes to intensify this "digital transformation" in the coming years.

People are having fun with IKEA's sofa planner — and the SOFFA SANS font is born

2019-07-03T14:00:00-04:00

Ikea has released a free font called Soffa Sans, inspired by all the memes born from its online “Design your own sofa” planner. The tool allows for customers to design the layouts and configurations of Ikea’s couches, from the Vimle sectionals to the Vallentuna modular sofa series. Once it was discovered that the planner allowed for basically any configuration with no limit to the cost, it inspired some Sims-like creativity from users.

The SOFFA SANS font was developed in partnership with UK agency Proximity London and is available for download here.

Some of the examples people used the sofa planner as a block-y drawing tool (which inspired the font) below.

pic.twitter.com/o75DdhB3D5
— forever (@perspectivator) June 23, 2019 there are 2 types of people. those who walk to the center, and those who hop. pic.twitter.com/HDe8n8HPip
— Morgan (Mostly Garbage, Partially 2 Day Old Bread) (@MeButInPogForm) June 23, 2019 If someone could give me £2,105.00, I'd put it to good use pic.twitter.com/XfXkrSUrtt
— Bamboolean (@bamboolean) June 23, 2019 I call this the "married but don't like each other." pic.twitter.com/uVo9auGKy0
— The Jenneral (@thejenneral) June 24, 2019 Sofa Bot 3000 welcomes you to his comfort party. pic.twitter.com/ofcQTxfzrM
— Sean (@seanlacey) June 24, 2019 Let's be honest, it was only ever going to end one way....... pic.twitter.com/7RbflIXgQ7
— James McLaughlin (@JS_McLaughlin) July 3, 2019...

IKEA Buys Naming Rights to Heatherwick’s Vessel at Hudson Yards

2019-04-01T09:00:00-04:00

Since opening in March, Thomas Heatherwick’s Vessel at Hudson Yards has caught headlines for its ostentatious design, its billing as “public art”, its repudiation of the tenants of accessibility, and its overreaching rights to the photos taken by visitors. Also drawing plenty of scrutiny is the name of the project, the Vessel, which despite its prominence on promotional materials, remains a working title.

As visitors begin streaming in, Related Companies, the developer behind the massive, $25 billion neighborhood, has been asking for public input on the perfect name for their architectural centerpiece. And, the internet and company has come up with a good sum of suggestions; ‘The Copper Kebab’, ‘Lady Liberty’s Diva Cup’, and ‘Escalator Broken’ have been particularly popular options.

However, just as the free ticket to climb comes with the price of waiting an hour online to reserve a spot to wait in line, everything public about this project has been a hoax—including the competition...

IKEA to introduce “Fyrtur” motorized smart blinds this April

2019-01-11T19:12:00-05:00

The smart blind is made of a “block-out” fabric, an opaque finish that will completely stop sunlight, similar to the fabric used on the existing company’s Tretur manual blinds...There’s no official price yet, but in Europe they’ll go for between $113 and $181, with sizes ranging from the width of an average window up to 76.8 inches wide.

Joining IKEA's line of smart-lighting products, the “Fyrtur” blinds will be available in all U.S. stores starting April 1.

What Ikea is trying to tell us about 21st century living

2018-10-18T15:11:00-04:00

Two years ago, the company asked thousands of people about where they felt “most at home.” At the time, 20% of subjects said it wasn’t the space in which they lived. Two years later, they asked again, and found the number has risen by 15% among people who live in cities. In other words, 35% of people who live in cities don’t feel at home in their house or apartment.

Ikea, the largest furniture company in the world, may know a thing or two when it comes to styling a home. However, what many Ikea consumers may not know is that alongside its holding company INGKA Holding a yearly research report is conducted studying and identifying how people live. Since 2014, the "Life at Home" report consisted of data associated with kitchen routines, morning regiments, and overall interaction within living spaces. However, both companies decided to shift from their typical report guidelines and take a more reflective, existential approach.

Image from 2018 Life at Home Report © Ikea

Instead of focusing on relationships between consumers and products, the yearly report focused on topics such as belonging, loneliness, and what it's like living in a large city. The report indicated that in order for individuals to feel "at home", these five emotional needs must be met: privacy, security, comfort, ownership, belonging. After surveying over 22,000 people living in 2...

Ikea's design modifications for their new store in India and around the world

2018-08-20T15:29:00-04:00

This week, Ikea opened its first store in India–a feat the company has been planning for many years. But while the big, blue exterior of the store looks the same, the interiors, from the displays to the products themselves, have been subtlety tailored to accommodate cultural differences. It’s a strategy Ikea has used to expand from its origins in Sweden, now reaching 30 markets in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia...

As Ikea expands into Asia, the brand recently opened their first store in India tailoring their products to the county's culture. This is part of how Ikea introduces their brand to countries around the globe, by keeping their designs mostly the same with subtle, pointed changes for specific aspects of different cultures.

The company sends representatives to potential expansion areas in order to discern what alterations they may need to make. For India, Ikea created furniture designs with new materials to withstand the extreme humidity rather than using their standard material of untreated pine. They also created more stools and folding chair products to accommodate spontaneous family gatherings, common to many Indian households.

Check out the full article for other cultural modifications Ikea made around the world.

Olafur Eliasson and IKEA are designing a series of affordable, solar-powered tools

2018-06-12T18:06:00-04:00

The Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and the Swedish furniture retailer Ikea are teaming up to produce a range of accessible and affordable tools that function without mains electricity and use renewable energy. Eliasson’s Little Sun project, co-founded with Frederik Ottesen, created a solar-powered torch for the 1 billion people worldwide who live off the power grid. It is now sold cheaply in more than 600 African outlets. [...] The products developed will be available in Ikea stores.

Olafur Eliasson is a busy man these days: after recently completing his first building, he's now announced a major design collaboration between his Little Sun initiative with IKEA to create a line of sustainable and affordable off-the-grid tools.

Little Sun Original in Burundi. Photo: Aminata Nimaga.

“Little Sun makes solar energy tangible and your world a little bit more sustainable," Olafur said. "We are excited to collaborate with IKEA, raising awareness for energy access and the need for global togetherness. Together, we want to connect the world by sharing the power of the sun with everyone."

Founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, passes away, age 91

2018-01-29T14:08:00-05:00

"His legacy will be admired for many years to come and his vision – to create a better everyday life for the many people – will continue to guide and inspire us," says Jesper Brodin, the CEO and president of the IKEA Group.

Over the weekend, the Swedish entrepreneur who created IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad (age 91), passed away quietly at his home in Sweden. The company confirmed Mr. Kamprad's death on Sunday, citing "short illness."

The business magnate displayed a penchant for entrepreneurship from a young age, selling matches to Swedish villagers as a child. In 1943, a 17-year-old Kamprad registered his business as IKEA, originally selling household goods by mail.

Over the course of his seven decades-long career, Kamprad grew the mail-order company into the world's largest furniture retailer. With more than 350 stores in 29 countries, the company amassed him a net worth of over $58.7 billion, making him the world's eighth-richest person according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

He is survived by his daughter, Annika, and sons, Peter, Jonas and Mathias—and, of course, the ubiquitous 'Lack table' that sits in every one of your millennial friends' living rooms.

BYOH: Build Your Own Home

2017-12-18T15:13:00-05:00

Four walls and a roof, a basic bathroom and a kitchen sink. Basic access to electricity (a couple of sockets "here and there") and no flooring or wall coverings. This is what the non-for profit developers Naked House – created by a London-based startup – is proposing as an alternative to the £484,000 standard cost of a home for fellow members of generation rent.

If you thought coming home with Ikea boxes made for an exciting afternoon of assembly, a London based startup, Naked House, is thinking of you.

The concept of the startup is to allow the owner to have full control of the interior creation of their homes. With the current thread of DIY reaching endless possibilities, Naked House looks to enable the buyers to complicate or simplify their lives as they see wish.

It would seem that we have one way or another, turned the primitive hut into a modern-day startup. Who knew Laugier and Eisen were entrepreneurs before their time?

The peculiar history of New Haven's 'amputated' Marcel Breuer building

2017-10-09T14:09:00-04:00

Fifteen years after IKEA demolished part of it for a parking lot, a Marcel Breuer-designed office building in New Haven has become a stage for art. [...] Now, Burr is building on those explorations in his current show, Body/Building. Spread out over the first floor of Breuer’s gutted local icon, the show uses objects that weave together a story about himself, the site, and his city.

Tom Burr / New Haven, Phase 1, 2017, installation view, Bortolami, New Haven

New Haven-native, and now New York-based, artist Tom Burr tells the story of one of the city's most iconic, and controversial, buildings in his current show Body/Building, now on display inside the gutted belly of the 1960s brutalist Marcel Breuer-designed Long Wharf building.

"I’m interested in the fact that it’s amputated," Burr revealed, hinting at the partial demolition that the current owner, IKEA, saw necessary in 2003 to provide surface parking for its new store on the site.

Tom Burr / New Haven, Phase 1, 2017, installation view, Bortolami, New Haven

The show can still be visited until November 11 and is free of charge but requires an appointment.

BIG's Cactus Towers to join Dorte Mandrup's urban IKEA masterplan in Copenhagen

2017-08-15T18:04:00-04:00

Bjarke Ingels Group recently unveiled the renderings for two hexagonal “Cactus Towers”, as part of a 74,000 square-meter masterplan in Copenhagen that fellow Danish practice Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter is in charge of designing. The project will be built in the Vesterbro district at the Kalvebod Brygge waterfront.

Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter's urban IKEA masterplan, which includes BIG's Cactus Towers (upper left corner). Rendering: Luxigon.

BIG's residential towers, standing at 60 and 80 meters tall, will have 500 compact “youth rooms” with an average size of 30m2 as well as balconies and terraces on each story. The project gets its name from the towers' rotating hexagonal cores, which form a distinctly “spiky” silhouette. According to Magasinet KBH, the towers are BIG's first residential project in Copenhagen since their acclaimed Ørestad projects, which include the 8 House.

Image courtesy of BIG.

The Cactus Towers will over...

IKEA starts selling home battery storage with its solar panels

2017-08-03T14:18:00-04:00

Ikea is now offering solar panels and home batteries to its customers in the UK. The Scandinavian furniture chain is partnering with solar firm Solarcentury for the venture, with prices for solar battery storage starting at £3,000 (about $3,970 USD). The home batteries are designed to work with existing solar panels, or as part of a new combined home solar panel / battery storage system that Ikea is selling.

The Swedish furniture retail giant first starting solar panels in the UK back in 2013 to grow on a (then) heavily subsidized green energy market but ceased sales in 2015 when the British government announced its plans of cutting solar subsidies by up to 90%. Just a few months later, IKEA returned with a new lineup of home solar panels, this time partnering up with the firm SolarCentury.

"An average solar home in the UK will typically consume around 40% of all the solar electricity generated, or even less if they are regularly out during the day," IKEA explains in a new statement. "The remaining 60% of unused solar electricity is sent back to the National Grid, at a loss compared to its value. This means that homeowners currently lose out on making further cost savings. By adding Solar Battery Storage, unused solar electricity can be stored and used at a later time, meaning the amount of solar electricity an average home can use doubles to 80%."

With the launch of its Solar Battery S...

IKEA designers are learning about compact storage from NASA's space architect

2017-06-21T19:55:00-04:00

Confined in Utah’s Mars Desert Research habitat for three days—habitat diameter: 33 feet—the five-person team experienced the cramped living quarters and zero-waste living necessary to survive a journey to outer space.

Designers from IKEA are exploring space-saving solutions for tiny homes by living in an actual Mars research station. During the immersion workshop led by Constance Adams, NASA architect behind the habitat for the first human mission to Mars, the team examines the ways in which astronauts' insight could be translated to innovative furniture solutions for dense urban environments.

“My dream outcome will be to solve the biggest problem on earth…storage,” said IKEA’s head of design, Marcus Engman. “How could you design storage in a completely new way?”

Ikea is developing an Augmented Reality app

2017-06-19T20:30:00-04:00

Valdsgaard believes Apple’s know-how and recent progress within AR will be a crucial complement to Ikea’s in-house competencies. Another major benefit of working with Apple is the company’s gigantic ecosystem of users.

Ikea will partner with Apple to co-build an AR-based shopping app that will enable its users to try out virtual furniture at home before making buying decisions. Michael Valdsgaard, Leader of Digital Transformation at Inter Ikea, noted that the app is intended not to replace the company's physical stores but to compliment them.

Upon its launch in the Fall of 2017, the new AR app will have 500-600 products available.