Brightly coloured signs adorned with words related to "love in all its forms" decorate this architectural installation that designers Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan have created for a summer festival in London (+ slideshow).
The Temple of Agape was designed by Myerscough and Morgan for the Festival of Love, a cultural event taking place at London's Southbank Centre.
Agape means the love of humanity, and is one of seven Ancient Greek themes of love on which the festival's agenda is based.
"Love is the most emotive subject and to be asked to consider how to express Agape, one of the seven types of love, was hugely challenging and thought provoking," said the designers.
The installation is situated in front of the Royal Festival Hall and incorporates a pitched roof entryway framed by neon motifs and words, including part of a quote from civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr that reads, "I have decided to stick with love."
"We have travelled widely and experienced many types of places," said Myerscough and Morgan. "Building a temple of love felt right, making a place for joy and noise as well as quiet contemplation."
A scaffolding structure was erected on the pedestrian embankment in front of the building to support the plywood shelter and signs, each of which was hand painted by Myerscough's team and a group of volunteers.
Multicoloured geometric patterns cover the walls at the base of the structure, while a ramp with a black tiled pattern leads up and through the installation, towards a set of stairs that ascends to the foyer level of the Royal Festival Hall.
A series of scaffolds wrapped in coloured tape are erected around existing benches along the embankment.
The tape is used to decorate the poles of the main scaffolding structure, which also provide a framework for a collection of totems and flags.
Inside the sheltered entrance, dappled light filters through patterned perforations in the plywood walls and ceiling, while a rounded opening in the roof casts a pool of light onto the wooden floor.
An archway at the top of the staircase frames the entrance to the building behind, and incorporates the word Love above the plywood-lined corridor that completes the installation.
The Temple of Agape installation will be in place until the conclusion of the Festival of Love on 31 August 2014.
Myerscough and Morgan previously collaborated on a wooden pavilion inside Mecanoo's Library of Birmingham, which featured flags and signs emblazoned with brightly coloured words, and also teamed up to create a cafe near the Olympic Park in 2012.
Photography is by Gareth Gardner.
Project credits:
Artists: Morag Myerscough and Luke Morgan
Client: Southbank Centre
Curator: Georgia Ward
Southbank Centre Producer: Beth Burgess
Southbank Centre Project Manager: Paul Denton
Specialist Scaffold & Temporary works engineers: Tubular Techniques Limited
Scaffold Contractor: Castle Scaffolding Ltd
Painting: Morag Myerscough, assisted by Lizzie Toole, Kathryn Cross and a group volunteers
