Nike and Dropcity are presenting the NikeAir_Lab, an innovative space for Milan Design Week 2026. Together, the two partners are offering the international design community an exclusive look at the past, present, and future of Nike Air.
Visitors will experience samples, material studies, and prototypes related to Air Liquid Max, FlyWeb, Radical AirFlow, Therma-FIT Air Milano, and other innovations.
This fall, the concept will become a permanent fixture at Dropcity and open to the public.
Registered guests will have access to eight interactive stations featuring state-of-the-art technology such as robotic arms, thermoforming machines, and pneumatic systems.
Each station interprets air as a creative medium in different ways: Visualizing (air as evidence), Forming (air as shape), Deforming (air as transformation), Pumping (air as expansion), Suctioning (air as void), Calibrating (air as impulse), Cooling (air as subtraction), and Blasting (air as force). Workshops with Nike designers and the in-house Dropcity team round out the program.
Golnaz Armin, VP of Design Studio Excellence at Nike, describes the approach as follows:
“At Nike, experimental, hands-on work has always been deeply ingrained. That’s why, when we first visited Dropcity a year ago, the place immediately felt familiar and inspiring at the same time. Prototyping is part of our everyday routine—implementing ideas directly, testing them, and refining them in real time.
Products are meant to be worn, experienced, and refined through practical use. As much as we leverage the latest digital capabilities, the hands-on development of physical products remains essential in an ongoing process.”
This philosophy is also reflected in approximately 100 previously unpublished prototypes curated by designers from various Nike divisions. Visitors thus gain a rare insight into development processes, material testing, and new ideas.
Another highlight is the Air Archives section within the installation’s five tunnel rooms. There, rare designs by Air inventor Frank Rudy, early studies of the Alphafly NEXT%, and exhibits featuring Faith Kipyegon and Hiroshi Fujiwara are on display.
After Design Week, the exhibits will be integrated into other Dropcity workshops. These include areas dedicated to robotics, model making, 3D printing, textiles, ceramics, woodworking, and recycling.
Andrea Caputo, architect and founder of Dropcity, says:
“The Air Lab initiative pursues an ambitious and unique vision. It demonstrates that design and production can create tangible added value for the city of Milan and for the creative community. The lab will be operated by Dropcity as a public facility and will be accessible to everyone.
This initiative represents a concrete and forward-looking commitment and, at the same time, establishes a new model of collaboration between companies and research centers such as Dropcity, which can create genuine social value at both the local and international levels.”
Under a 20-year agreement with the City of Milan, Dropcity is developing into one of Europe’s largest architecture centers.
Spanning more than 10,000 square meters, the facility will feature exhibition spaces and over 300 workspaces available at discounted rates for architects, product designers, graphic designers, and other creatives.
César García, VP/GM of Nike EMEA, says:
“Milan is a global hub for creativity, culture, and design. With the NikeAir_Lab, we’re underscoring our ongoing commitment to the city and the creative community that shapes it.
Through partnerships like the one with Dropcity, we’re creating spaces in Milan where innovation, design, and sports converge and ideas can become reality.”
NikeAir_Lab is on display through April 26 at Via Sammartini 72 in Milan as part of Milan Design Week.
This fall, the project will open to the public as a permanent feature of Dropcity.
Photos via Nike
