IKEA Portland and Ideabox Launch Their First Collaborative Prefab Home, Aktiv.

Oregon-based Ideabox has collaborated with IKEA to create a new prefab collection which debuted this month at the Portland Home & Garden Show.





The collaboration introduces "Aktiv", the first in a new line of prefab houses designed by ideabox and appointed by IKEA.




Working with IKEA designers, ideabox designed aktiv around IKEA systems. In the kitchen, IKEA offers a lot of flexibility in kitchen cabinets. Ideabox designed the layout, and their clients can select the colors. IKEA appliances offer state-of-the-art cooking, so they included an induction cooktop and convection oven.




A counter depth refrigerator keeps food fresh, and cabinet faced dishwashers provide seamless functionality. Proven by millions walking on them in IKEA stores, aktiv offers IKEA flooring, a perfect match for active Northwest lifestyles.



For those IKEA fans, the pure delight of walking and imagining their way through an IKEA store quickly turns to the daunting task of assembly when they get home. However, when your ideabox aktiv arrives, all of the cabinets, countertops, and flooring are installed.




The bath features a “huge” two sink vanity and four drawers along with a storage cabinet. The bedroom features the amazingly functional IKEA built-in series of closet systems.




Think of it as your own personal euro designer flat -only where you want it. Every bit an ideabox, from the energy efficiency to the cool assembly of materials, aktiv by ideabox truly is modern living made remarkably easy.



Jim Russell (above), owner and principal at Ideabox, has a background in energy, having worked for Oregon's Department of Energy and Energy Trust at Oregon. He's passionate about delivering energy-efficient homes — as long as they have a design edge. "We want our homes to be so rockin' cool that people just want them," Russell said. "No Birkenstocks, no flannel, no granola."


above: Jim Russell, ideabox owner, stands in front of the Aktiv at the Portland Home and Garden Show

The home gets a boost in its quest for maximum energy efficiency in part due to its small footprint. Aktiv is compact at 745-square-feet and carries an all-inclusive price tag of about $86,000. From order to delivery, an Ideabox home takes about eight weeks, with two to three of that in building time.

The exterior of the Aktiv in Portland:




The landscaping for the project was done for Ikeabox by Schutlz and Long Landscape Architecture of Portland. Recycled asphalt replaces gravel and water-efficient dwarf plants are fed by a drip irrigation system.



images and info courtesy of ideabox, Sustainable Business Oregon and photographer Cathy Cheney

The IKEA Billy Bookcase Turns 30 & Gets Its Own Book

The IKEA Billy bookcase is a legend by now. Spurring projects like Pimp your Billy,tons of fan sites, hacker sites and youtube videos, it's no wonder the world's best selling customizable bookcase now has it's own book celebrating 30 years of existence and over 41 million bookshelves sold.

The Billy:

above: the classic simple Billy in natural, white or black can then be customized with everything from glass doors, various shelves, tons of configurations and special stickers.


The Book (thanks to a reader, I now know there are 2 versions of this book, the one below in not in English and the one shown at the top of this post IS available in English):




above: The book celebrates 30 years of the Billy Bookcase

The Designer:



Created by Gillis Lundgren (above) in 1979, the bookcase is the bestselling single piece of MDF furniture in the world. Designed by only the fourth employee for Ikea, 41 million have been sold since 1979. The factory where the bookcases are made knocks out 15 Billys a minute; 3.1 million a year.

As it turns 30, some of the IKEA stores are celebrating with a 3 for 2 sale, special limited editions, events and of course, the book.

Special Limited Editions:


Designed by Annika Bryngelsson, the special edition, BILLY JADER is decorated with Shakespheare's love poems, while BILLY BJASTE was inspired by Japanese manga.





Download an animated Billy Bookcase screensaver for your mac or PC here.

See a video of What Your Bookcase Says About You and an article from BBC news here.

The Billy Ballet, an event to celebrate the 3 for 2 sale and birthday:



IKEA

IKEA UK's Never Ending Design Stories: Mixed Media Videos

The IKEA UK site has a wonderful series of little online movies that mix film and animation to introduce us to 20 designers, and their inspiration for various IKEA PS products.



The IKEA PS collection is a line of 46 products by 20 designers that combine good design with the economical use of resources and responsiblity for the environment. Chairs, bookcases, dressers, benches, room dividers, lamps, clocks, wall mirrors, glassware, decor, textiles and rugs are amongst the products in the collection.


Above: the home page of the Never Ending Design Stories

The Never Ending Design Stories begins in a Seed World where animated dandelion seeds are drifting through the sky.



The 'seeds' represent the stories. As you click upon each seed, a designer within the pod is exposed and a small film begins featuring that designer discussing the product from the PS collection for which they personally designed.

Smartly designed for consumer use, the 'seed' (or product story) you've already viewed has a yellow flag trailing from it so when you return to the Seed World, know which video you've already seen:




Each video has the options to be viewed with or without sound and subtitles. At the end of each little film, you are given the product information such as the name, price and dimensions:




They are all very different, but equally charming and give you a much greater respect for a product as seemingly mundane as a towel. Following are a few screen grabs from some of the 'stories'. Please click on the images to enlarge:












Go see all the Neverending Design Stories here.