Projects | IKEA Stores, Bangkok, Thailand

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Thailand’s IKEA Sukhumvit store is the acclaimed international IKEA group’s first branch in the heart of Bangkok as well as being the first city-centre store in South-East Asia, specialising in ready-to-assemble furniture, textiles, lighting and home decor.

It is the third IKEA store project in Thailand (all of which were delivered by Aurecon) and the first to be integrated into a bigger shopping complex. With a gross lettable area of 12,000 m², the store is the major anchor tenant of Emsphere Mall, a new shopping centre situated on Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Road. Aurecon was awarded the contract to provide MEP and structural design services for the project.

Service excellence wins repeat high-quality client

Achieving the prestigious award was a testament to Aurecon’s project expertise, established through providing similar services on two previous projects for IKEA in Thailand: IKEA Bangna (95,000 m²) opened in 2013 and IKEA Bangyai (115,604 m²), opened in 2018. These are standalone buildings. IKEA Bangyai was the first global IKEA store, and the first departmental store in Thailand, to attain LEED Platinum Certification.

Familiar with the special requirements for building design on IKEA projects, Aurecon had the in-house capabilities to tackle IKEA’s high-quality standards and gateway approval process. A key endeavour was on maintaining the strong client relationship and a technical understanding of the client’s needs, particularly regarding safety standards.

Location

Thailand

Client

IKEA

Aurecon's Role

Building services design, mechanical, electrical, hydraulic and fire engineering

Expertise

Building Design

Complete

2023

IKEA Sukhumvit: Integrated within a shopping complex in the heart of Bangkok, IKEA’s third high quality store in Thailand provides an exceptional shopping experience.

At IKEA, shoppers can walk around a vast showroom filled with modern furniture, home accessories, kitchenware, and smart storage solutions.

Ensuring customers enjoy a smooth shopping experience in IKEA stores is a key priority. Aspects such as exit signs, emergency lighting and fire protection all had to meet strict IKEA standards.

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IKEA Sukhumvit: Integrated within a shopping complex in the heart of Bangkok, IKEA’s third high quality store in Thailand provides an exceptional shopping experience.

Addressing the major challenges

IKEA is extremely customer-focused, with safety being a primary requirement for the building design. Additionally, ensuring customers enjoy a smooth shopping experience in its stores is a key priority. Consequently, aspects such as exit signs, emergency lighting and fire protection all had to meet strict IKEA standards.

During the development of the store design and subsequent construction, Aurecon had to obtain the collaboration of a considerable number of stakeholders in the Sukhumvit project. For instance, Aurecon worked closely with the landlord to achieve alignment with the challenging standards regarding lift traffic and lift safety.

This image shows a seating area in IKEA Sukhumvit store, which is located in Bangkok, Thailand, featuring a 'Hej!' sign, a 'hello' greeting in Swedish. The Sukhumvit store is the first city-centre IKEA concept store in Southeast Asia and is situated in the Emsphere shopping mall.

Innovative techniques and sustainable solutions for IKEA projects

Building on the successful delivery of the IKEA Bangna building, Aurecon was engaged to provide design services for the IKEA Bangyai, which incorporates a large store together with show areas, storage, loading docks, offices and parking spaces.

Based on the project experience gained from IKEA Bangna, the IKEA Bangyai store was designed using 3D Revit modelling and 3D animation. It also included energy saving and sustainability features:

Renewable energy to power the building, such as solar panels
Hot-water system collecting heat from the sun
LED lighting
Water recycling system
Water usage monitoring (as per Green Mark)
Building facade designed for energy saving

Pioneering techniques

Aurecon employed BIM to design IKEA Bangyai and was one of the first consultants to use the technique on buildings of this size in Thailand. Proving to be highly effective when combined with 3D Revit modelling and 3D animation, it significantly improved design coordination productivity and processes to execute the impressive IKEA Sukhumvit project.

The project began in September 2022 and concluded with the spectacular opening of IKEA’s Sukhumvit store just over a year later.