The Time When A Building Floated Away From Covent Garden

Rachel Holdsworth
By Rachel Holdsworth Last edited 89 months ago
The Time When A Building Floated Away From Covent Garden
Photo by Francesco Camardo from the Londonist Flickr pool

Artist Alex Chinneck — he of the upside down house in Southwark and the building with identically smashed windows in Hackney — created this spectacular illusion for the Covent Garden piazza in 2014.

Photo by Dave Pearce from the Londonist Flickr pool

It was a mirror image of a building opposite, and looked like it was breaking free of its foundations and about to float off.

Photo by Dave Pearce from the Londonist Flickr pool

The BBC spoke to Alex about how it was done (spoiler: there's an armature hidden inside and a six tonne counterweight in that innocuous market stall).

Photo by Artee62 from the Londonist Flickr pool

Last Updated 31 October 2016