The developers of The Movement Café, Greenwich, were so keen to have it finished before the Olympics began that they managed to get the whole building up in 16 days. The Cathedral Group’s self-imposed deadline was an effort to spare visiting fans an eyesore.
The Movement Café is tucked in the corner of an industrial estate which is the subject of a wider regeneration project by TCG. The ground level of the café is two metres below street level, and it sits as a result in an “amphitheatre” space. The venue takes advantage of this design by hosting regular acoustic sessions, poetry and book readings.
Designer Morag Myerscough added more than a splash of colour to the site by fixing painted wooden boards to the upper scaffolding structure carrying the words of a poem-tweet by Olympic bard Lemn Sissay. Myerscough hand-painted the core of the building, as well as making the furniture, along with Luke Morgan, from reclaimed laboratory work surfaces, and sewed the café’s cushions from kite silk. A podium finish.
