Somewhere in London, a 40-foot-long building has ripped itself free from its stone base and lifted itself up to levitate over 10 feet in the air! The architectural feat, located in London’s Covent Garden’s East Piazza, is actually an elaborate illusion staged by artist and designer Alex Chinneck.
He took inspiration for his illusion, dubbed “Take My Lightning But Don’t Steal My Thunder,” from the rich heritage of the Market Building, modelling the look and feel of the illusionary extension on the original 184-year-old Market Building. The structure was crafted entirely out of CNC-cut lightweight polystyrene blocks that were made to mimic the look of stone, and then assembled like a jigsaw puzzle Chinneck is no stranger to playful architectural illusions. He has a history of turning houses upside down and sliding lazy walls down the sides of massive buildings. He even inverted a 1.5-tonne rotating thatched roof once, balancing it perilously on the tip of a wind vane.