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Ikea Vienna

5 October 2022 Comments (0) Architecture, Culture, Mobility, Real Estate

IKEA opens its first pedestrian-only store in Vienna

IKEA is opening a store in a car-free city centre, in the heart of the Austrian capital. The brand-new building adapts to changes in customer behaviour and contributes to resolving pollution and mobility problems.

A giant blue and yellow cube, planted on the outskirts of a big city and surrounded by massive parking lots. You thought you knew everything about IKEA? Think again! Their new store in Vienna will amaze you! 

With its modular design covered in trees but without parking, IKEA Westbahnhof offers a full range of products for car-free shopping. Don’t worry. The store delivers large parcels on the same day using an electric vehicle.

  • Ikea Vienna
    Ikea Vienna
  • Ikea Vienna
    Ikea Vienna
  • Ikea Vienna
    Ikea Vienna
  • Ikea Vienna
    Ikea Vienna

Seven floors of sustainable design

The seven-floor building is a green oasis that is only accessible by public transport. IKEA Westbahnhof was designed by Querkraft Architekten, a local architectural firm. The facade is a nod to one of the kit furniture giant’s best-sellers, as it evokes a shelf, and the store was deliberately designed without a parking space. 

“2/3 of the Viennese don’t even have a car anymore. They come by public transport, on foot or by bicycle. IKEA Vienna Westbahnhof responds to all these behavioural changes”, explains the Swedish group. 

The building is open on all sides, alternating terraces and gardens on its four facades of transparent walls. One hundred sixty trees purify the air and reduce the temperature by almost 1.5 degrees in a natural way. There are also beehives and nesting sites for birds.

A new iconic meeting place for Vienna?

IKEA occupies the first four floors; the two upper floors are reserved for a hotel with 345 beds. A roof garden with photovoltaic panels is accessible to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers a breathtaking view of the entire city of Vienna. “We hope this will help to make this store a meeting place”, says Jette Jørgensen, Group Development Manager.

“This building makes an important contribution to the future of a living and green city, as well as to the future of retail”, says Querkraft Architekten. 

An opinion shared by the jury of the International Architecture & Design Awards 2022, since IKEA City Centre Westbahnhof was awarded the platinum prize by the AD-C architecture & design community in the Commercial Architecture Built category.

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