This New IKEA Store Is a Sustainable Masterpiece That's Designed Like a Beautiful Shelving Unit

ArchitectureThis New IKEA Store Is a Sustainable Masterpiece That’s Designed Like a Beautiful Shelving UnitLocated in Vienna, Austria, the design is an eye-catching structure punctuated by full-size trees on each floor

By Jessica Cherner

April 26, 2022

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The new IKEA building in Vienna, Austria is a seven-story grid composed of 32-by-32-foot glass cubes with trees on every floor.Photo: Christina Haeusler

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Certain enterprises have mastered the art of instantly recognizable branding that subtly draws people into their stores. Tiffany & Co., for instance, has the robin’s egg hue that dons its jewelry boxes, the giant bow wrapped around its boutiques during the winter holidays, and even The St. Regis New York’s namesake suite. The American fine jewelry maker isn’t the only brand that’s figured out how to create genius marketing to render it iconic. IKEA, the Swedish ready-to-assemble furniture company that revolutionized the idea of DIY, is perhaps as famous for its wordless instruction manuals as it is for its gargantuan blue and yellow storefronts. The brand’s most recent store opening, though, is totally changing up IKEA furniture stores’ typical look. The new boutique, in Vienna, Austria, was designed to resemble the brand’s minimalist shelving units. And the architects behind the project, Querkraft Architekten, have designed a stunning building.

The new IKEA store in central Vienna, was designed with sustainability in mind. Aesthetically different from the typical stores, with its shelf-inspired design, this one features a garden on the roof, a café, and even a two-story hostel.

Photo: Christina Haeusler

From afar—at least, from the other side of the street—the building looks like a massive DIY shelf. This one, however, isn’t meant for books and collected knickknacks; it’s intended for the company’s collection of over 3,000 pieces of furniture and decor, all of which are neatly organized across the stacked 32-by-32-foot glass-walled pods. Plus, the seven-story structure is also home to a rooftop terrace that’s open to the public, a café, a hostel on the upper two floors, and a collection of behemoth-sized potted plants on each floor. The green life isn’t just for show, though. 

The designers at Querkraft Architekten installed the lush jungle to offset climate change in Vienna. The towering trees—160, to be exact—offer sources of both cooling and moisture. They’re like nature’s air conditioning, according to the firm, which claims it can even cool the street level of the store.

One of the most enchanting spaces in the new IKEA is the rooftop on the seventh floor, where a full garden is open to the public.

Photo: Hertha Hurnaus

Hardly anyone is surprised that the new IKEA furniture store is a sustainable marvel—especially after the brand announced, back in December 2021, that it’s ending its use of plastic packaging by 2025. This 60,000-square-foot store takes the sustainable agenda a step further with solar panels and hyperefficient heating and cooling, both of which are essential in a city with extreme temperatures in the winter and summer months. And anyone who can carry their new purchases home on that day can do so, but those who are unable to do so, can order oversized items, like sofas, bed frames, and the famous shelving units, to be delivered on IKEA’s next-day, emission-free electric trucks.

Querkraft Architekten, the architects behind the project, installed minimalist-looking escalators to encourage guests to keep going upwards until they reach the rooftop terrace on the seventh floor.

Photo: Hertha Hurnaus

IKEA also plans to integrate modern beehives, specialist-designed nesting sites for the birds living in the demolition site, and IKEA bike messengers. Though the brand is all about easygoing, minimalist furniture that celebrates the beloved Scandinavian design style, it’s been making sustainability an obvious pillar.

There may be more than enough incentives to outfit your home in pieces from small businesses, but IKEA, with its green initiatives and undeniably cool design, is making a strong case to go mass market again.

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