

alex chinneck melts two-storey wax house in london

photo by chris tubbs

adding to his oeuvre of reality-bending architectural interventions, british artist alex chinneck has set a life-sized, two-storey house made from wax in the middle of london. ‘a pound of flesh for 50p’ was erected at the end of september and has been slowly softening into the city streets throughout the last month. built from 8,000 wax bricks as part the annual MERGE festival 2014, the installation mimics the scale and design of a candle making factory based in bankside a few of centuries ago.



as each brick drips down the building’s facade and the entire structure begins to warp in shape

photo by tommophoto

as each individual volume drips down the building’s facade and the entire structure begins to warp in shape, the architecture becomes completely unrecognizable — in a few weeks time, only the roof will remain on the floor, bathed in a pile of molten material. each brick has been cast in paraffin wax within beds of terracotta sand, a method which renders both individuality and a unified color palette. over the last year, the artist has collaborated with chemists, manufacturers and engineers to develop visually convincing bricks that manipulate in the most sculptural effective way. melted manually, the house softens through the use of a handheld heating apparatus — commonly used in roofing applications — providing creative control over the artwork’s appearance and duration.



in a few weeks time, only the roof will remain on the floor, bathed in a pile of molten material

photo by tommophoto



‘a pound of flesh for 50p’ was erected at the end of september and has been slowly softening into the ground

photo by tommophoto



wax drip detail

photo by tommophoto



molten windows drip down the sides of the structure

photo by chris tubbs



each brick has been cast in paraffin wax within beds of terracotta sand, rendering both individuality and a unified color palette

photo by tommophoto



prior to melting, the house was a seemingly ordinary structure

photo by chris tubbs



artist’s impression of the house ‘before’



chinneck imagines the wax house ‘after’