The Movement Cafe

London, Canada

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Other Projects by Studio Myerscough

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Temple of Agape

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The Pavilion at Library of Birmingham

The Movement Cafe

London, Canada

Firm

Studio Myerscough

Type

Commercial › Retail
Cultural › Hall/Theater

YEAR

2012

"Café, theatre, local landmark, meeting place. All of these describe the Movement Café, but perhaps it is its crowning poem which defines it.

Morag Myerscough was commissioned to design and build a structure on a site left scarred by demolition near the Greenwich DLR station, London, UK. She wanted the building to speak. She wanted it to provoke ideas, and through a collaboration between Myerscough and the official poet of the 2012 Olympics, Lemn Sissay, MBE, the building was given a voice.

Sissay has also been artist-in-residence at the Southbank and his work has appeared on several buildings. Myerscough & Sissay both share a fascination with Twitter. As a poet, he's long been intrigued by its possibilities of using and compressing language. Each day he creates a ""morning tweet"" for his followers @lemnsissay. Myerscough uses Twitter to record three specific events which happen each day, expressed through colour @moragmyerscough.

Myerscough and Sissay talked extensively about tweets being a source for the building. The structure was temporary and its location already transient. Twitter's transience and engagement of the everyday made it a perfect solution for the site. Myerscough chose Sissay's tweet:

27 June 2012

'This is the house. This is the path. This is the gate. This is the opening. This is the morning. This is a person passing. This is eye contact.

The phrases were hand-painted in super-graphics letter by letter by Myerscough and her team. They wrapped around the building. This is how buildings get to speak."