Alex Chinneck’s ‘A week at the knees’ installation – All photos are by Charles Emerson unless stated otherwise, courtesy of Clerkenwell Design Week.

Art, Architecture. For Clerkenwell Design Week 2025, Alex Chinneck has unveiled A Week at the Knees — a captivating and whimsical installation nestled in the historic Charterhouse Square [Map, on view until early July 2025]. This major public artwork features a rippling, four-storey brick façade inspired by the surrounding Georgian architecture.

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Imagine a grand structure that’s simply had enough — it appears to have slumped down onto the lawn, folding at the knees for a well-earned rest. That’s precisely what Chinneck’s surreal creation evokes. As the brick façade appears to lie into the grass, it arches over a gravel path, forming a walk-through tunnel that playfully transforms the environment into an interactive experience.

The piece harks back to Chinneck’s earlier work — in particular, his 2013 “sliding house” in Margate, which featured curving bricks, windows, and doors that seemed to defy the laws of physics. But with “A Week at the Knees”, Chinneck pushes his signature sculptural style even further, integrating real-world materials and inviting public engagement. The sculpture will remain.

Constructed from 320 metres of repurposed steel and over 7,000 bricks, the 5.5-metre-tall and 13-metre-long installation is anything but lightweight. Despite its fluid appearance, it’s a feat of engineering, complete with a functioning door and seven steel-framed windows, four of which curve dramatically to echo the building’s surreal lines.

Chinneck worked closely with a number of British industry collaborators to bring the project to life, including Chiltern GRC, Cleveland Steel, Crittall Windows, FabSpeed, and Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC. Notably, much of the steel used in the installation was salvaged from the demolition of another London building, adding a layer of sustainable practice to the project.

This latest work follows Chinneck’s series of bold public sculptures, including a 37-metre inverted electricity pylon created for the London Design Festival and his famous “unzipping building” at Milan Design Week. With “A Week at the Knees”, he continues to delight and surprise, proving once again that architecture can bend, twist, and even sit down — if only for a moment.

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Photos by Charles Emerson, unless indicated otherwise – Courtesy of Clerkenwell Design Week.

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Photo by Marc Wilmot, courtesy of Clerkenwell Design Week.