I generally hate shopping, but I like
going to IKEA. There’s something about the way they arrange the space that
makes strolling through their store much more interesting than being in a mall.
Predictably, nearly all the furniture in our house is from IKEA. My first
exposure to the elegant minimalist style of Northern European furniture was a
small store I knew as a teenager called “Scan” (short for “Scandinavia”). This
store near our house is long gone, and I was introduced to IKEA only 10 years
ago by some colleagues who had lived in Sweden. Now they are in the business of
applying their space saving technique of flat packaging to pre-fabricated
refugee shelters. At first sight they seem to look like little more than a
glorified shed, but they come with a roof top photovoltaic panel, built-in
insulation, and a two-layered roof to keep the inhabitants from getting cooked
on sunny days. Are flat packaged homes next in line?
