inauguration of the new green store in Vienna
IKEA, the well-known Swedish furniture house, opened its first car-free store in Vienna in August 2021. Overcoming the iconic blue and yellow structure of its stores, IKEA aims to define a new concept of city, more sustainable towards the environment and more attentive to social relations.
The typical store structure of the group is similar in each countrywith an upper floor dedicated to showroom and a lower one where the market and self-service are located. In all points of sale there is a car park with spaces reserved for the disabled and families with children. Absolute novelty of the new store of the Swedish giant is the absence of cars and spaces dedicated to them; it can only be reached by public transport, on foot or by bike, without using a private car.
An innovative idea that meets the new trends of customers in terms of purchases (e-commerce) and mobility, able to offer diversified proposals such as restaurants and spaces accessible to all, allowing its visitors to experience the spaces as a place of business. meeting and without having to collect your purchases.
The project signed by local architects Querkraft Architekten follows the change that began some time ago in European cities: from large stores located in the suburbs of metropolitan areas to shops located in urban centers. Innovative and green, the new car-free IKEA store a few kilometers from the city’s cathedral and the famous Schönbrunn residence redefines the eco-friendly city. The project is based on the commitment to propose an architecture sensitive to environmental aspects thanks to the presence of facades, terraces and roofs covered with greenery.
The car-free IKEA project
The building, located in the Westbahnhof area of Vienna, one of the main stations in the city, yes
spread over seven floors, to which is added the basement of 4500 square meters. From the piano zero
the third gives access to the shop, which has a total area of 11,550 square meters. The fourth floor
it is instead intended for the restaurant, kitchen and offices (2800 square meters). The fifth and sixth
floor houses a hostel with 345 beds (5100 sqm). On the seventh and last floor the public can
access a hanging garden of 1800 square meters, enjoying one of the most particular meeting points on
roofs of the Austrian capital.
The architecture of the building is relatively simple: a parallelepiped with a mesh
structural steel in sight, and lots of greenery on each floor of the structure. To make the construction
an eco-sustainable contemporary urban symbol is the presence in the facade of 160 species of trees
of various sizes which, by lowering the temperature by about 2 degrees in the hottest months of the year,
generate a pleasant microclimate.
Added to these are the large façade overhangs, 4.5 meters deep, which create shading from the rays of the façade itself, to the natural light entering the interior spaces without sur the rooms. In addition to being sources of excellent thermal insulation, the store is powered by electricity with the presence of photovoltaic panels placed on the. The Querkraft Architekten architects who designed the building envelope aim for BREEAM Excellent certification.
BREEAM certification
The environmental assessment method of the building research institute, known more succinctly with
the acronym BREEAM, is a first published environmental building assessment method
time in the early 90s and represents one of the most widespread building design standards on the subject
of environmental impact.
A building that achieves BREEAM certification meets the best building practices that
respect the environment. In particular, the certification is issued following an audit that
provides for the attribution of a score in certain thematic areas: problems and impact
environmental; materials and techniques used; best practices and regulatory compliance.
Car-free cities in the world to live without cars
With a view to reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere and fighting against change
climate, is for some years now that several cities around the world have adopted the philosophy of living without a car.
For example, in Europe, since 2019 Oslo has banned access to cars in the center in order to improve the livability of urban spaces; at the same time, it has enhanced cycle paths and public transport to ensure the mobility of commuters and residents. Pontevedra, a municipality of green Galicia in Spain, can be considered a pioneer, where the city has been almost entirely pedestrianized for about twenty years. And, by focusing precisely on the efficiency of public mobility, Vienna has also been able to get closer to the carfree goal, where more than half of its residents in the most central districts do not own a private car.
The good practice of living without a car is undoubtedly a choice that is not simple, but not impossible, to be adapted to the needs of today’s society, which, to be concretized, certainly requires a strong synergy on the part of the entire population, from the individual citizen to the highest institution.
Curated by Davide Leone
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