A seven-storey store with vegetable façades and a green roof open to the public, without cars, with restaurants and terraces never seen before. This is the ecological turning point announced by IKEA, Swedish giant, which will build the first ecological store designed for the pedestrian experience in Vienna by 2021.

A goodbye to the traditional Ikea furniture store conceived like a huge building far from the citiy, with enormous car parks and out of urban centers’ lives? We’ll see, but the idea is to make Vienna a store unique in the world.

The new IKEA store in Vienna will open near Westbahnof station: there are no car parks planned, because it is directed to pedestrian, cyclists and people who will come by public transport or metro.

“Customers have little time and appreciate the comfort – IKEA underlines -. This is clearly evident in the furniture area: more and more customers stop thinking of bringing home their purchases. In the new store the biggest furnitures will be delivered directly at home within 24 hours”.

Therefore, IKEA should become the meeting point for the entire district in Westbanhof. The project was edited by “querkraft architekten” studio, which explains on its site: the design reflects IKEA’ brand: friendly, open, not conventional and relaxed. The querkraft’s solution is shown in a building that represent also an added value for the environment. The roof terrace, open to the public, greenery on the entire façade, a coffee shop and an external space pleasantly planned contribute together to good neighborhood”.

The project seems a big IKEA cubic shelving, with different rooms and functions at each shelf and box. There are expansions of rooms, terraces and vegetation as well as service elements like elevators, escape stairs, building services elements or toilets. Vienna’s store will be the first in which IKEA will go to the customers and not vice versa.

To make in-store visits safer and more comfortable, the Swedish giant has scheduled the construction of large sidewalks all around the building, directly connected to the public transport network, in addition to walls and terraces rich in vegetation and green spaces accessible also during closing time of the store.  

All around the store, indeed, 160 trees will be planted to ensure a more pleasant microclimate, thus creating one of the largest green space in the city.