FRAPPANT-IKEA a box for a box
Who needs an inner-city IKEA?
“Frappant” Building in Hamburg-Altona situated in the Neue Grosse Bergstrasse, opened in 1973 as part of a highly praised and worldwide noticed concept of inner-city shopping and as a state of the art 70’s architecture. The world war two shaken and bombed street stood for a new and modern approach in which the gigantic building stood as a landmark. Already two years later and as an impact of the ‘73 oil crisis and its effects on business, the concept came to crisis, due to simple lack of profit. Different companies and enterprises tried to reprofit and revitalize the building, but failed through the years. Meanwhile the concept of concrete casted moderness also came to crisis and the last remaining retailer Karstadt left the building in 2003. The empty building, now under real estate speculation and not properly maintained, was then used by artists, musicians and alternative music-clubs, while the city was still unsuccessfully looking for new investors. Suspicious about the now alternative, non-profit but vital use of the building, the ECA, a local lobby group of business and politicians, started labeling the building as an eyesore and pressure was build up to tear it down. Politicians (including the Green Party) then offered the building to IKEA, that had already focused on another spot closer the motorway and never dreamed of such an offer. This decision then led to wide protest among the local population, fearing gentrification through higher rents and increasing pollution from Ikea traffic. Politicians and lobby groups now unsure of the developing resistance, staged a referendum in the district, under the suggestive question: Are you in favour of a new Ikea in Altona, that will sustainable vitalize and increase attractiveness of the Grosse Bergstrasse. An assertion that has yet to be proofed. Pro-Ikea, winning the referendum by 77%, gave way to IKEA to buy and build. With this decision, alternative concepts of a low and non-profit use were binned and to avoid squatting the whole building was soon demolished by the district.
Meanwhile, Ikea not having even started to build their 7 stories inner-city big-box, shop and resident rents in the area are leveling up and the first old shops already had to close or go. The area now started to become an investment-ground for real estate and with the rising of the Ikea building site, whole plans to restructure other parts of the street are in full affect.
The topic is as controversial and polarized as it was from the very start: Critics claim, that Ikea will not just bring traffic and pollution, but also and more important, a total change of the local structure, both in local business as in housing. It is feared that other chain companies like Starbucks , H&M and others will eventually destroy the local shops and social structure. It is also criticized that a box is replaced by a box, making the street even more narrow and shady. The resistance against IKEA not merely is a resistance against the company, but also a struggle for Altona-Altstadt, their diverse and not very wealthy population, their wellbeing and their very own right to the city.
FRAPPANT-IKEA a box for a box
Who needs an inner-city IKEA?
“Frappant” Building in Hamburg-Altona situated in the Neue Grosse Bergstrasse, opened in 1973 as part of a highly praised and worldwide noticed concept of inner-city shopping and as a state of the art 70’s architecture. The world war two shaken and bombed street stood for a new and modern approach in which the gigantic building stood as a landmark. Already two years later and as an impact of the ‘73 oil crisis and its effects on business, the concept came to crisis, due to simple lack of profit. Different companies and enterprises tried to reprofit and revitalize the building, but failed through the years. Meanwhile the concept of concrete casted moderness also came to crisis and the last remaining retailer Karstadt left the building in 2003. The empty building, now under real estate speculation and not properly maintained, was then used by artists, musicians and alternative music-clubs, while the city was still unsuccessfully looking for new investors. Suspicious about the now alternative, non-profit but vital use of the building, the ECA, a local lobby group of business and politicians, started labeling the building as an eyesore and pressure was build up to tear it down. Politicians (including the Green Party) then offered the building to IKEA, that had already focused on another spot closer the motorway and never dreamed of such an offer. This decision then led to wide protest among the local population, fearing gentrification through higher rents and increasing pollution from Ikea traffic. Politicians and lobby groups now unsure of the developing resistance, staged a referendum in the district, under the suggestive question: Are you in favour of a new Ikea in Altona, that will sustainable vitalize and increase attractiveness of the Grosse Bergstrasse. An assertion that has yet to be proofed. Pro-Ikea, winning the referendum by 77%, gave way to IKEA to buy and build. With this decision, alternative concepts of a low and non-profit use were binned and to avoid squatting the whole building was soon demolished by the district.
Meanwhile, Ikea not having even started to build their 7 stories inner-city big-box, shop and resident rents in the area are leveling up and the first old shops already had to close or go. The area now started to become an investment-ground for real estate and with the rising of the Ikea building site, whole plans to restructure other parts of the street are in full affect.
The topic is as controversial and polarized as it was from the very start: Critics claim, that Ikea will not just bring traffic and pollution, but also and more important, a total change of the local structure, both in local business as in housing. It is feared that other chain companies like Starbucks , H&M and others will eventually destroy the local shops and social structure. It is also criticized that a box is replaced by a box, making the street even more narrow and shady. The resistance against IKEA not merely is a resistance against the company, but also a struggle for Altona-Altstadt, their diverse and not very wealthy population, their wellbeing and their very own right to the city.