Nike opens permanent Air Lab in Milan with "industrial-grade robots for anyone to use"

During Milan design week, sports brand Nike unveiled a permanent laboratory where anyone can experiment with its Air technology over the coming years.

Air Lab is a permanent addition to Dropcity, a centre for architecture and design that was launched in 2024 by architect Andrea Caputo and occupies a row of 15 previously abandoned warehouse tunnels behind Milan Central Station.

During the city's annual design festival, five of the arches hosted a preview exhibition called NikeAir_Lab that showcased the past, present and future of Nike Air technology through samples, swatches and machinery relating to the company's innovations.

The technology displayed, including robotic arms, thermoforming machines and pneumatic cylinder kits, will become part of Dropcity's workshop facilities, which are accessible to anyone looking to develop prototypes for building elements, furniture or industrial products.

"Few places mean more to the global design community than Milan," Nike chief design officer Martin Lotti told Dezeen. "It brings us together and we wanted to give something back that would endure."

"The Air Lab becoming a permanent part of Dropcity reflects our commitment to ongoing experimentation, learning and innovation, long after design week ends."

From this autumn, Nike's equipment will be available to use alongside Dropcity's other facilities, which include dedicated production sites for robotics, model making, 3D printing, textiles, ceramics, woodworking and mosaic.

"The Air Lab initiative advances an ambitious and unique vision, proposing that design and production can leave a tangible legacy for the city of Milan and for the community of designers and architects connected to it," said Caputo.

"The lab will be operated by Dropcity as a civic facility, accessible to the public," he added.

"This initiative represents a concrete and forward-looking commitment. One that establishes a new model of collaboration between companies and research centres like Dropcity, generating meaningful social impact on both local and international levels."

The exhibition presented various interpretations of air as a design medium, such as forming (air as shape), deforming (air as transformation), pumping (air as expansion), suction (air as void) and blasting (air as force).

Nearly 100 prototypes offered visitors an insight into the evolution of product innovations, including Air Liquid Max, FlyWeb, Radical AirFlow and Therma-FIT Air Milano.

A section called Air Archives featured previously unseen experiments by Frank Rudy – the inventor of the original Nike Air technology – along with other material from the brand's archives.

Activities organised to coincide with the event included movement classes with New York-based Nike trainer Joe Holder, as well as listening sessions hosted by Club to Club, where attendees could lounge on a cloud-like inflatable structure from Barcelona gallery Vasto.

Nike designers and Dropcity's in-house team also hosted daily workshops, providing a first chance for visitors to explore the possibilities of designing using Air Lab's cutting-edge machinery.

Caputo told Dezeen that he approached Lotti about collaborating on a project that would extend beyond Milan design week and leave a lasting legacy for Dropcity and Milan's design community.

"The labs are the backbone of Dropcity," he explained. "We already had robotics, clay, woodworking and many others, but we were missing a component related to air as a tool to shape design today."

"The Air Lab is a great gift for the city of Milan," he added. "We now have advanced machinery and industrial-grade robots that will remain here for anyone to use."

Caputo began working on the concept for Dropcity in 2018, proposing a facility where like-minded people can meet to discuss and imagine better ways of practising design and architecture.

The design centre operates on a 20-year lease and includes office workstations, exhibition galleries, advanced prototyping workshops, a materials library, and an archive and reference library featuring specialist publications.

During previous design weeks, Dropcity has hosted an exhibition exploring the political symbolism of the White House's interior design and a presentation of penitentiary furniture aimed at highlighting the role of design in the growing prison crisis.

Nike's previous design innovations include neuroscience-based footwear and an air-filled jacket that can be inflated and deflated.

The photography is courtesy of Nike.

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