Just one week after IKEA announced its intention to begin constructing budget hotels across Europe, Sweden's flat-pack furniture king has made public its plans to build an entire city district from scratch in the German city of Hamburg.

"We want to build a new city district for the benefit of Hamburg," said Harald Mueller, director of Landprop, IKEA's land-purchasing arm.

The district, which will sit on approximately five acres of land, will resemble a typical city neighborhood with apartment buildings, office spaces, hotels, and shopping centers.

It is unclear if residents of Hamburg's IKEA district will be required to exclusively furnish their living areas with the company's products.

This is the second urban development project undertaken by IKEA this year: It previously purchased a strip of docklands in east London where it plans to construct some 1,200 homes and apartments capable of housing some 6,000 people.

[photo via AP]