At Milan Design Week 2025, architectural illusionist Alex Chinneck once again stunned the design world by unveiling a building that appears to be unzipped. Nestled in the Brera Design District, Chinneck’s latest public installation has brought his signature blend of surrealism, engineering prowess, and architectural experimentation to Italy’s design capital, reasserting his place at the forefront of experiential art and urban sculpture.
The installation is a full-scale architectural intervention in which the façade of a classical building appears to be opening from the center outward, as if an invisible zipper is peeling back the outer shell to reveal a dynamic, textured interior. This visually arresting illusion is more than just a spectacle—it reflects Chinneck’s ongoing exploration of the built environment as a space of transformation, narrative, and interaction. At a moment when the future of urban design is being hotly debated, his work provides an imaginative counterpoint that invites contemplation, curiosity, and joy.
Alex Chinneck’s Signature Approach
Alex Chinneck has built a career on challenging architectural conventions. His previous projects—like a house that appears to melt, or a building façade that slides apart brick by brick—have been celebrated for blending whimsical visual language with rigorous construction. What separates Chinneck from many conceptual artists working in public space is his deep engagement with structural integrity. His illusions aren’t merely surface-level tricks; they are grounded in serious architectural know-how, developed through collaborations with engineers, material scientists, and builders.
In Milan, Chinneck expands on the idea of material illusion by using bricks, mortar, and steel in ways they were never meant to behave. The bricks appear to flow like fabric, pulled back along invisible seams to reveal glowing abstract patterns beneath. The zipper motif, which he has employed in previous works, takes on new significance in this context. It is not just an optical gimmick but a metaphor for access—an invitation to see what lies behind the polished surfaces of our everyday environments.
A Standout at Milan Design Week
Each year, Milan Design Week attracts top designers, architects, and artists from across the globe, but few installations generate as much buzz as Chinneck’s “unzipped” building. From the moment it was revealed, the installation became a magnet for visitors, sparking widespread media coverage and social media attention. Design aficionados and casual passersby alike gathered to take in the astonishing sight of an ordinary building seemingly transformed by invisible hands.
Unlike some of the more conceptual exhibitions within the design week program, Chinneck’s work occupies a unique space. It is accessible to the public without the need for technical explanation, yet complex enough to invite deeper study. As people crowd around the installation to take photos or simply stare in disbelief, it becomes clear that the piece has succeeded in its goal—to turn architecture into a performance, a living artwork that reshapes the urban environment and how we perceive it.
Technical Feats Behind the Illusion
Achieving this illusion at scale required months of meticulous planning and precision engineering. Chinneck collaborated with structural engineers and materials experts to bend traditional building components to his creative will. Unlike projection mapping or augmented reality, this is a wholly physical sculpture. Every element was fabricated and assembled on-site, using techniques adapted from both traditional masonry and advanced metalworking.
One of the most impressive technical aspects of the installation is the transition between the real and the unreal. From a distance, the building appears completely authentic. As viewers approach, the illusion begins to take over. The bricks peel back in fluid curves, creating the sense of movement frozen in time. This seamless transition between functional architecture and surreal intervention is what gives the piece its power. It does not simply sit atop a building—it becomes the building.
The interior structure that emerges through the “unzipped” sections is no less detailed. Textured panels, backlit in subtle neon hues, offer contrast to the building’s original surface. These panels suggest a fantastical inner world hidden beneath the mundane, echoing themes from Chinneck’s past work, where the extraordinary lurks just behind the ordinary.
Site-Specific Relevance in Brera
The Brera Design District is one of Milan’s most historically rich neighborhoods, known for its fusion of artistic heritage and cutting-edge design. Chinneck’s choice to place his installation here was not accidental. He selected a site that would create dialogue between his modern intervention and the classical architecture that surrounds it. The stone buildings, narrow streets, and romantic lighting of Brera form a picturesque backdrop, which makes the rupture caused by the “unzipped” building even more pronounced.
Rather than clashing with its surroundings, the installation activates the space around it. Viewers are compelled to rethink what a building can be and how it can interact with its environment. This is especially poignant in a city like Milan, where centuries of architectural history exist side by side with the latest innovations in design and materials.
The installation also engages with the broader themes of Milan Design Week 2025, which focus on material experimentation, sustainability, and emotional design. Chinneck’s work, though fantastical in form, raises real questions about the boundaries between structure and sculpture, utility and aesthetics. By creating a building that performs like a stage prop while functioning as a piece of public art, he proposes a new role for architecture—one that includes delight, transformation, and narrative as core components.
Public Reaction and Engagement
In the days following its unveiling, the installation has drawn thousands of visitors. It has quickly become one of the most photographed and talked-about features of this year’s Milan Design Week. Part of its success lies in its immediacy. There is no need for an artist’s statement to understand the work. People connect with it emotionally and instinctively, drawn in by its humor, scale, and surrealism.
Children are seen running toward it in wonder, adults pause mid-conversation to take photos, and design students gather to sketch and debate its construction. The installation is not simply viewed but experienced. It creates a moment of shared astonishment amid the city, breaking through the typical pace of urban life to create something extraordinary.
Social media has amplified the piece’s visibility, with countless images and videos circulating across platforms. This kind of public interaction is central to Chinneck’s practice. He does not create work for the gallery or the museum, but for the street—for real people in real time. In this way, his installation fulfills one of the most important goals of public art: to create a sense of place, memory, and dialogue.
Architectural Expression and Emotional Design
While the visual effect of the unzipped building is what initially captivates viewers, the emotional resonance of the piece lingers longer. At a deeper level, Chinneck’s installation explores the idea that buildings are not fixed, impenetrable objects, but evolving, porous expressions of human activity. By suggesting that a façade can be peeled away like clothing, the artist draws attention to the constructed nature of our environments and opens a space for imagination.
This emotional layer aligns closely with current conversations in architecture and urban planning. As cities evolve in response to climate change, migration, and technological disruption, there is growing interest in more adaptable, expressive, and inclusive forms of architecture. Chinneck’s installation may not offer literal solutions to these challenges, but it does suggest new ways of thinking about how buildings can respond to human needs, emotional as well as physical.
Through the act of unzipping, the building becomes a metaphor for transformation, openness, and potential. It becomes a symbol not of permanence but of possibility. In a city like Milan, which thrives on a careful balance of heritage and innovation, this message feels especially timely.
Behind the Curtain: Constructing the Unzipped Illusion
The stunning effect of Alex Chinneck’s unzipped building at Milan Design Week 2025 is immediate and unmistakable. Yet behind the visual illusion lies an intricate and demanding process of engineering, fabrication, and design iteration. Bringing the surreal concept to life required an extraordinary collaboration across disciplines, and this part of the series goes behind the scenes to uncover the making of one of the most technically ambitious installations of the year.
What appears to be a whimsical act of peeling back bricks like fabric is, in reality, the result of intense precision and problem-solving. Every detail—from the curvature of the zipper folds to the reinforcement of the building’s original structure—had to be carefully orchestrated. Months of planning, modeling, material testing, and construction work culminated in an installation that seamlessly blends sculpture with architecture.
The Origin of the Concept
While the final form of the installation seems almost fantastical, the idea for the unzipped structure came from a very tangible source. Chinneck, who often draws inspiration from everyday objects, had long been fascinated with the zipper as a metaphor for transformation. He explored it in earlier works on a smaller scale, but Milan presented the opportunity to take the concept to new architectural heights.
Chinneck began with a series of sketches, exploring how the act of unzipping could be applied to the rigid language of masonry and classical façades. The design evolved from abstract concepts to more refined visualizations, aided by digital modeling tools. The goal was to create a building that appeared to open itself up, not in a destructive way, but in a gesture of curiosity and theatricality.
This time, the vision required more than a convincing surface—it demanded a functioning architectural skin that could hold itself in dramatically warped positions while remaining structurally sound. From the beginning, it was clear that this would be one of the most complex pieces Chinneck had ever attempted.
Collaborating with Engineers and Specialists
To realize the design, Chinneck assembled a multidisciplinary team of collaborators, including structural engineers, fabrication experts, architects, and materials scientists. The structural engineering firm brought in for the project had previously worked on adaptive façades and kinetic sculptures, making them uniquely suited to Chinneck’s experimental approach.
The team began by creating a digital scan of the existing building to understand how the illusion could be integrated without compromising its integrity. From this data, they developed a parametric 3D model that would guide every step of construction. The model simulated the folding and unzipping effects in layers, allowing the designers to predict stress points and distribute weight safely.
Steel was chosen as the core structural material due to its flexibility and strength. Curved beams were fabricatedoff-sitee using laser-cutting and cold-rolling techniques, then assembled in sections that could be transported and installed in Milan. Brickwork was custom-made to fit the curved steel frames, with individual bricks cut, numbered, and fixed into place like puzzle pieces.
One of the most challenging aspects of the build was the transition between the existing façade and the new sculptural elements. The team had to carefully blend the real and the fabricated surfaces so that the illusion would hold up at all viewing angles and distances. This required not only aesthetic finesse but also an understanding of how materials would age, reflect light, and respond to weather.
Material Innovation and Surface Treatment
The physical illusion of soft, flowing bricks depended heavily on materials innovation. Chinneck’s team experimented with various surface treatments to replicate the look of aged brick and stone while ensuring that the warped sections could be shaped like textile folds. Ultimately, a lightweight cladding system was developed using cast resin and custom-colored concrete, mounted on a flexible but strong metal subframe.
Each fold of the unzipped section was modeled by hand and refined using 3D printing prototypes before being scaled up. The zipper mechanism itself—while not functional—was crafted with the same level of detail. Oversized zipper teeth were CNC-milled from aluminum, then painted and aged to match the tone of the surrounding materials. A sculptural zipper slider was suspended mid-motion, enhancing the illusion that the building was caught in the act of opening.
Behind the unzipped façade, Chinneck created a layered internal surface using translucent panels lit from behind. The glowing patterns were developed in collaboration with lighting designers who programmed subtle shifts in color temperature throughout the day. These lighting effects gave the installation an evolving presence, transforming as natural light conditions changed.
Construction on Site in Milan
Transporting and installing the elements in Milan was a logistical feat of its own. Working within the constraints of a densely populated urban district, the construction team coordinated deliveries, scaffolding, and equipment in a tight time window. Installation began several weeks before Design Week’s official opening, with crews working in shifts to complete the structure without disrupting the neighborhood.
The unzipped sections were installed in a carefully choreographed sequence. First, the steel skeletons were bolted into the building’s exterior frame, followed by the application of the custom cladding and zipper elements. Final detailing, such as brick texture painting and lighting calibration, was done on-site.
Safety was a paramount concern. Even though the installation was temporary, it had to withstand wind, rain, and the pressure of thousands of visitors getting close to inspect and photograph it. The team carried out multiple rounds of stress testing and structural analysis to ensure the piece could remain stable throughout the duration of the event.
Integrating Technology Without Losing Tactility
In a design culture increasingly saturated with digital installations, Chinneck’s work stands out for its commitment to real materials and tangible effects. While digital modeling and fabrication were essential to the project’s success, the outcome was resolutely physical. There are no AR filters or projection tricks at play. The folds, curves, and textures are things viewers can reach out and touch.
This tactility is crucial to the emotional response the installation provokes. Visitors are not just seeing a clever image—they are encountering an object that has weight, volume, and presence. The contrast between the expected solidity of masonry and the surprising softness of its form triggers a visceral reaction.
Even in moments where high-tech tools were used behind the scenes, the focus remained on making the installation feel handmade and immediate. This philosophy extended to how the installation was presented. There are no explanatory signs or digital screens nearby. Chinneck prefers that people encounter his work without mediation, allowing their curiosity and imagination to lead the experience.
Reflections from the Team
Speaking with members of the design and construction team, a recurring theme emerges: the installation was a true test of collaboration. Each phase required designers and builders to step outside their conventional roles, often combining artistic intuition with technical precision. Mistakes in the early prototyping phase forced redesigns. Delays in material sourcing pushed the timeline. But the collective belief in the vision kept the momentum alive.
Team members describe the process as equal parts exhilarating and exhausting. There was no blueprint for how to do what they were doing. Every step had to be invented, tested, and adapted on the fly. Yet for most of those involved, the reward of seeing the building completed—and witnessing public reaction—made the effort worthwhile.
One engineer commented that the installation changed how he thought about buildings. Rather than seeing architecture as a static set of constraints, he now views it as something malleable, expressive, and even playful. That shift in mindset is perhaps one of the most important outcomes of the project.
Toward a New Language of Architecture
Alex Chinneck’s unzipped building does more than defy expectation—it suggests a new language for architectural storytelling. It challenges the idea that buildings must conform to rigid forms and silent facades. Instead, it presents a vision of architecture as alive, dynamic, and engaged with the people who experience it.
The technical innovation behind the illusion was not merely in service of spectacle. It was a way to push boundaries, to explore how far materials can be taken from their traditional uses, and to test how much narrative can be embedded in a wall, a corner, or a curve. It’s a reminder that architecture can surprise, delight, and question its own rules.
In the next part of this series, we’ll step back and look at Alex Chinneck’s broader body of work. How does the Milan installation fit into his evolving artistic journey? What recurring themes connect his buildings that melt, slide, twist, and unzip? And what does his approach suggest about the future of urban art and design?
A Surreal Continuum: Tracing the Creative Journey of Alex Chinneck
The unveiling of Alex Chinneck’s unzipped building at Milan Design Week 2025 has reignited interest in an artist whose career has been defined by scale, illusion, and the reimagining of architecture. Although the Milan project stands as a singular and extraordinary achievement, it is not a departure from his previous work—it is the natural evolution of a creative path that has consistently challenged assumptions about structure, space, and the ordinary built environment.
For over a decade, Chinneck has created a body of work that bends the familiar into the surreal, using everyday materials in surprising and technically demanding ways. His buildings appear to melt, levitate, unzip, or peel apart. They often begin with mundane foundations—brick terraces, warehouses, facades—and undergo transformations that blur the line between sculpture and architecture. Milan represents the latest milestone in this ongoing dialogue between the real and the impossible.
From Small Interventions to Monumental Statements
Alex Chinneck first gained wide attention in the early 2010s with a series of projects that brought theatricality to urban settings in the United Kingdom. One of his early notable works was a London installation in which a two-story brick house appeared to have been flipped upside down. Not long after, he created a building whose facade slid down into the street, as though it were caught in the middle of a collapse. These early works established the themes that would define his practice: transformation, distortion, and the interruption of architectural norms.
What separated these installations from street art or stagecraft was their technical credibility. Chinneck’s illusions were not painted or projected but physically constructed, often at full scale and using materials associated with real architecture. Each piece invited viewers to suspend disbelief not because the illusion was hidden but because it was embedded in the physical reality of the site.
As the projects grew in ambition, so did their complexity. He began collaborating with structural engineers, steel fabricators, and contractors who could help bring his ideas into the realm of possibility. By the mid-2010s, Chinneck had developed a reputation for being both artist and orchestrator—someone whose drawings and concepts set the vision, but whose final installations relied on a team of experts working across disciplines.
Visual Language and Recurring Motifs
Across Chinneck’s body of work, several visual motifs appear repeatedly. The zipper, as featured in the Milan installation, has been explored before. In 2018, he created a piece in London where a building corner appeared to unzip from top to bottom, revealing an inner cavity lit from within. Similarly, the idea of bending or folding hard materials—making brick behave like paper or cloth—has become one of his most recognizable trademarks.
These motifs are more than stylistic choices; they are conceptual tools. The act of unzipping or peeling back a facade becomes a metaphor for transparency, access, and vulnerability. A brick wall that collapses like fabric suggests impermanence and flexibility in something we expect to be rigid and permanent. In a time when cities are rapidly changing and the role of architecture is being redefined, these metaphors resonate strongly.
Chinneck’s manipulation of scale is another recurring theme. His works are often life-size, but their logic is dreamlike. By working at the same scale as real buildings, his illusions feel plausible in a way that miniature models or digital renderings cannot. They inhabit real space and require the same practical solutions as real construction. This commitment to full-scale realism grounds his surreal ideas and makes them part of the viewer’s world, not apart from it.
Milan in Context: A Maturation of Practice
The Milan Design Week 2025 installation is a culmination of many ideas Chinneck has explored throughout his career. It takes the motif of the unzipped facade and pushes it further than ever before, both in terms of scale and complexity. Where previous pieces were often applied to abandoned or temporary structures, the Milan project integrates directly into a functioning urban building, located in one of the world’s most design-conscious cities.
This represents a shift in how Chinneck’s work is being positioned and understood. No longer just surprising interventions, his projects are now being treated as serious contributions to architectural discourse. In Milan, the installation stands in dialogue with the city’s historic architecture, contemporary design culture, and public space planning. It is not only a visual interruption but a conceptual one, encouraging conversations about what architecture can communicate and how it can be reimagined.
The emotional response to the Milan building—curiosity, amusement, awe—suggests that Chinneck’s language of illusion has universal appeal. Yet the installation is also technically refined and spatially sensitive, qualities that show a mature understanding of place, audience, and the architectural context in which his work now resides.
Art, Architecture, and the City
One of the most compelling aspects of Chinneck’s work is how it engages with the urban landscape. His installations do not require galleries or museums. They exist in streets, parks, and public squares. This accessibility is crucial to their impact. Passersby do not need to buy a ticket or study a guide—they simply encounter something unexpected and are drawn into its mystery.
This public presence also raises questions about the role of art in the city. In many ways, Chinneck’s projects fulfill functions that go beyond aesthetics. They create moments of joy and reflection in otherwise routine environments. They draw attention to neglected buildings and underused spaces. And they spark interactions between strangers who might otherwise pass one another without notice.
The Milan installation amplifies this public role by situating itself within a major design festival, yet remaining open and visible to anyone walking through the Brera District. It turns the city into a stage, where architecture performs not just as structure but as narrative. This approach aligns with a growing movement in urban art and placemaking, where design is used to foster social engagement and emotional connection.
Critical Reception and Academic Interest
Chinneck’s work has occasionally drawn mixed reactions from critics. Some celebrate the ambition and playfulness of his projects, while others question their substance beyond the visual trick. Yet over time, a more nuanced appreciation has emerged, particularly from those interested in the intersection of architecture, public art, and material culture.
In academic circles, his work is increasingly being studied as part of a broader trend toward performative architecture—structures that do not merely serve functions but tell stories, provoke thought, and adapt to their surroundings in creative ways. The Milan piece, with its combination of historical context, engineering ingenuity, and public accessibility, serves as a prime example of this movement.
Furthermore, as cities become more focused on creating engaging and inclusive public spaces, Chinneck’s installations offer a model for how to integrate art into the urban fabric in ways that are meaningful and memorable. They are not just eye-catching; they are conversation starters, temporary landmarks, and catalysts for community engagement.
The Power of Illusion as Communication
Illusion, when used thoughtfully, is more than a gimmick. In Chinneck’s hands, it becomes a language of transformation. By bending bricks or slicing buildings apart, he reminds us that the structures we inhabit are not as immutable as they seem. He invites us to imagine alternate realities, hidden layers, or futures not yet built.
This use of illusion speaks to a deeper cultural need. In an age where much of our interaction with architecture is mediated through screens, virtual tours, and real estate renderings, Chinneck’s physical, tactile works offer a counterpoint. They demand presence. They ask us to be there, to look up, to walk around, and to experience wonder in three dimensions.
That communication—between artist, object, and viewer—is at the heart of his practice. It is what turns his buildings from technical feats into emotional experiences. And in Milan, that experience is shared by thousands, each of whom walks away with a different interpretation of what they’ve seen.
As Alex Chinneck’s career continues to evolve, the question becomes: where can this language of surreal architecture go next? Having already unzipped buildings, floated houses, and melted facades, how will he continue to surprise and challenge audiences? What new materials, scales, or contexts will he explore?
What is clear from the Milan installation is that Chinneck has no intention of repeating himself. Each project builds on the last, introducing new complexities and addressing new questions. His work is not a closed system of ideas but an expanding field of exploration.
In the final part of this series, we will explore the legacy of the Milan installation—what it means for the future of public art and architecture, how it fits into the shifting landscape of urban design, and how it might influence future generations of artists and architects. We will also consider the temporary nature of such works and how impermanence can become a powerful part of a city’s memory.
Final Thoughts
The surreal unzipping of a building in the heart of Milan may only last for the duration of Design Week, but its impression will endure. In the closing days of the installation, thousands of visitors have come to witness a moment where the ordinary rules of architecture were momentarily suspended. It is a visual event that, despite its physical temporariness, leaves a long-term cultural trace. This final part of the series reflects on what Alex Chinneck’s project has meant not just for the city but for the wider conversation around creativity in urban space.
Ephemeral architecture has a long tradition in cities, from pavilions and fairs to protest structures and pop-ups. But few temporary buildings achieve the public and critical attention that Chinneck’s installation has captured. It is not a functional shelter or exhibition venue—it exists purely as an artwork that transforms how people experience space and material. And yet, its impact rivals that of more permanent monuments.
The unzipped facade offers a moment of suspension, both literal and figurative. It asks viewers to pause, reconsider what a building can be, and reimagine the potential of the spaces they move through every day. In this sense, the work transcends its physical boundaries and enters the realm of collective memory.