Nike and Dropcity, an emerging Milanese center for architecture and design, are previewing a new space called Air Lab at Milan Design Week 2026. The preview runs from April 20 through April 26 at Via Sammartini 72 in Milan. After Design Week ends, Air Lab will become a permanent part of Dropcity when the space opens to the public this fall.
During Design Week, the lab is called NikeAir_Lab. It offers the global design community a one-week look at the past, present, and future of Nike Air. Visitors can see samples and swatches tracing the development of Air Liquid Max, FlyWeb, Radical AirFlow, Therma-FIT Air Milano, and other innovations.
Design Week attendees who register will get first access to eight tool stations. Each station has cutting-edge machinery including robotic arms, thermoforming machines, and pneumatic cylinder kits. Every machine works with a different aspect of air as a design medium. One visualizes air as evidence. Another forms air into shape. Others treat air as transformation, expansion, void, impulse, subtraction, or force. Visiting Nike designers and Dropcity’s in-house team will lead hands-on workshops throughout the week focused on using air in design.
Golnaz Armin, VP of Design Studio Excellence at Nike, says the brand has always had an experimental and hands-on culture of making. On their first visit to Dropcity a year ago, the space felt both familiar and energizing. She notes that prototyping is a daily practice for Nike, an instinct to make, test, and refine in real time. Ideas are meant to be worn, experienced, and challenged through doing. Even as Nike embraces the latest digital capabilities, the craft of creating physical product through an iterative process remains essential.
That approach is on full display at NikeAir_Lab, with nearly 100 never-before-seen prototypes curated from across Nike’s design community. For the first time, the public can see samples and swatches up close. The lab will be the first of five tunnels visitors can explore. The insights of Nike athletes and collaborators, including Arianna Fontana and Hiroshi Fujiwara, will activate the Air Library in the fifth tunnel. The Air Archives will present a rare look at early experiments by inventor Frank Rudy from the Department of Nike Archives, initial explorations for the Alphafly NEXT% supershoe, and Nike athlete Faith Kipyegon’s Breaking4 speed suit, along with other items loaned by private collectors.
After Milan Design Week, the equipment will be moved to Dropcity’s other facilities. These include dedicated sites for robotics, model making, 3D-printing, textiles, ceramics, woodworking, carpentry, mosaic, recycling, and more.
Learn more and register HERE!
