expansion and refurbishment of existing IKEA store

commission
The original store opened in 2003. Apart from a few minor adjustments, the store has remained unchanged since then. Due to the growth of IKEA, various new developments and the wishes of the store, in 2015 the decision was made to expand the store and to extensively alter the existing part.

The extension of the shop floor is located on the northern side above the existing car park. In the existing store, an additional floor was installed for the restaurant and new meeting spaces. The entire kitchen and the existing restaurant have been modernised and extra floor area has been created in the store by moving fire escapes. On the ground floor near to the main entrance, the logistics area with chilled and frozen storage facilities for the restaurant has been expanded. The entrance area has also been renovated on both parking levels.

Attention was also paid to the sustainability of the store in particular, resulting in the use of high-quality insulation for the extension, the replacement of all the lighting with LED lighting and the replacement of old installations with more energy-efficient ones.



Knevel Architecten created the design for the whole expansion project by working closely with IKEA. Knevel Architecten has also been responsible for all the civil engineering tasks involved in the project as well as for monitoring during implementation.

The building works were carried out in a number of phases and the store remained open during that construction period. In addition, various measures were taken in order to prevent any inconvenience for customers.

location
The store is situated at the start of the WOON XXL furniture boulevard in a visible location next to the A16 motorway (at the Princeville junction). The store is easily accessible when travelling by both car and public transport. The water and green setting around the store makes this a high-quality location.

design
The original design principles from 2003 were respected when planning the expansion of the store. The extension on the northern side has made the front wider. The framed part of the façade has been moved along with the wordmark while keeping the existing colour, design and materials.

Following the expansion, the northern side of the store is still an enclosed blue volume. Because this side also provides access for cars, it was decided that the new emergency exits in this façade would be of a higher quality compared with the existing ones.

In order to improve the quality of the main entrance and visibility from outside, a suspended ceiling has been installed which connects to yellow cladding at the front and rear. These elements serve as a visual guide for customers.

On completion of the building works, IKEA remodelled the entire store to the new requirements.