London Gets a Twist With This Playful Brick Installation

Another fantastical Alex Chinneck installation in London not only caused visitors to do a double take but also invited their interaction with it.

Alex Chinneck Invites Tactile Interactions During Clerkenwell Design Week

• 50 designers, engineers, and specialized contractors led by artist Alex Chinneck
• 7,000 bricks
• 1,049 feet of repurposed structural steel
• 44 feet long
• 28,660 pounds

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Known for his playful architectural interventions, many resembling building facades slumped to the ground or peeling away from their framing, British installation artist Alex Chinneck modeled his A week at the knees, shown here in a sketch, on the Georgian architecture that surrounds it in Charterhouse Square, a landscaped public space at London’s Charterhouse, which was founded in 1371 as a Carthusian monastery and is now a residence for resource-challenged seniors.

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The steel used to make the serpentine frame was repurposed by Cleveland Steel from the former U.S. Embassy in London.

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The four-story brick structure included seven windows, a door, and even a drainpipe.

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It was fabricated by steel rollers and bricklayers at Chinneck’s farm in Kent, then transported to the site in three sections on a flatbed truck.

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Designed with interaction in mind, Chinneck incorporated a tunnel in A week at the knees for visitors to walk through.

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The 18-foot-tall facade was a mere 6 inches wide.

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The tunnel was 8 feet high.

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Produced in collaboration with Chiltern GRC, Crittall Windows, FabSpeed, and Michelmersh Brick Holdings, the installation was created for Clerkenwell Design Week, which began May 20, and was up through early July.