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Public Theatre
@London Festival of Architecture (Finalist)

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THE LONG RUN

Public Theatre

@London Festival of Architecture (Finalist)

London,

2022

“A system of theatrical organization whereby the play performed runs as long as there is an audience for it.”

The long-run is a modular space that can be assembled in three different configurations to put in dialogue the public space with the people who inhabit it. It is a sort of “thrust stage” - a platform that protrudes into the audience. In the same way, we are constructing this device that invites the audience to appropriate the stage and make use of Phoenix Road and shared roads and streets. The long-run is a theatrical device composed of nine wooden benches, which are held together by 18 poles where at the top we find a small knob that reminds us of the finials and washing lines and pegs of Somers town. The finials of “The long-run are simultaneously identitarian and functional elements: they work as parts of a simple pulley system for the benches, as anchor points for cables and for potential shading canopies.

This public performative platform can be adjusted in scale and be assembled in different conformations depending on the desired activity. The first configuration is a platform 7.2 x7.2 m which can be used for chatting, laying down, picnics and playing. If lifted, the benches form a seating area - a conversation pit. Here a series of canvases and drapes can be attached on each side to allow students to draw, sketch and present. In collaboration with Scene & heard the space can be used throughout the two weeks of intense playwriting weekend, where children with dramaturgs rehearse their plays. In that case, the space is enclosed and the drapes become an ever changing cyclorama.

The stage set acts as a public affirmation space for children and adults to witness their creativity. And when the play is ready to be shown, the thrust stage becomes a seating stall/tribune, inviting the public to see the play in this third arrangement. The long-run, due to its simple profile, could be adapted to multiple sites - our proposal is to place it as a congregational bridge between the public sidewalk of Phoenix Road and the currently unused garden of Oakshott Court. “From grey to green” - we believe that the first act of this process should be about valorising the multiple existing green spaces of Somers Town. We want to create a device that can be recognized as a point of reference, a meeting place in the neighbourhood to socialise, rest and play which makes you aware of the importance of public streets, making it a space of permanence rather than just a passage.

During the weekend of Phoenix road closure, we will disassemble the stage into a long table that occupies the whole street. The fourth configuration will see a tea ceremony as in the past - a magnificent 64.8 metre collective pathar mangshor jhol on a Sunday. Moments of ordinary life will be emphasised and brought to life by the creative daily use of this long-run.

Designed by

Lemonot

with

Gianmarco Dolfi

Camilla Tinti

Public Theatre

@London Festival of Architecture (Finalist)

London

2022

“A system of theatrical organization whereby the play performed runs as long as there is an audience for it.”


The long-run is a modular space that can be assembled in three different configurations to put in dialogue the public space with the people who inhabit it. It is a sort of “thrust stage” - a platform that protrudes into the audience. In the same way, we are constructing this device that invites the audience to appropriate the stage and make use of Phoenix Road and shared roads and streets. The long-run is a theatrical device composed of nine wooden benches, which are held together by 18 poles where at the top we find a small knob that reminds us of the finials and washing lines and pegs of Somers town. The finials of “The long-run are simultaneously identitarian and functional elements: they work as parts of a simple pulley system for the benches, as anchor points for cables and for potential shading canopies.


This public performative platform can be adjusted in scale and be assembled in different conformations depending on the desired activity. The first configuration is a platform 7.2 x7.2 m which can be used for chatting, laying down, picnics and playing. If lifted, the benches form a seating area - a conversation pit. Here a series of canvases and drapes can be attached on each side to allow students to draw, sketch and present. In collaboration with Scene & heard the space can be used throughout the two weeks of intense playwriting weekend, where children with dramaturgs rehearse their plays. In that case, the space is enclosed and the drapes become an ever changing cyclorama.


The stage set acts as a public affirmation space for children and adults to witness their creativity. And when the play is ready to be shown, the thrust stage becomes a seating stall/tribune, inviting the public to see the play in this third arrangement. The long-run, due to its simple profile, could be adapted to multiple sites - our proposal is to place it as a congregational bridge between the public sidewalk of Phoenix Road and the currently unused garden of Oakshott Court. “From grey to green” - we believe that the first act of this process should be about valorising the multiple existing green spaces of Somers Town. We want to create a device that can be recognized as a point of reference, a meeting place in the neighbourhood to socialise, rest and play which makes you aware of the importance of public streets, making it a space of permanence rather than just a passage.


During the weekend of Phoenix road closure, we will disassemble the stage into a long table that occupies the whole street. The fourth configuration will see a tea ceremony as in the past - a magnificent 64.8 metre collective pathar mangshor jhol on a Sunday. Moments of ordinary life will be emphasised and brought to life by the creative daily use of this long-run.


Designed by

Lemonot

with

Gianmarco Dolfi

Camilla Tinti

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lemonot

Sabrina Morreale, AA Dipl
Lorenzo Perri, AA Dipl (Hons)

London / Prato

projects@lemonot.co.uk

ABOUT

This is Tooltip!

Sabrina Morreale and Lorenzo Perri are architects, educators and founding partners of Lemonot – a duo for spatial and relational practices, architecture and performative arts. We graduated together at the Architectural Association and we’re now based between London and Italy.

Our projects re-invent the relationship between urban fabric and human rituals through a wide range of media: pavilions, exhibitions, short films and designed performances. We relentlessly seek new forms of togetherness, with a contextual yet transterritorial approach that aims to detect, celebrate and trigger the spontaneous theatre of everyday life. 

We experiment with the language of artistic strategies in public space, empowering alternative narratives and unexpected interactions – to initiate unconventional acts of place-making. We explore how architects can contribute to a peculiar reinterpretation of the city, defining novel 1:1 experiences through short and long-term occupational strategies. Dealing with multiple stakeholders at the same time, we often intervene as both facilitators and designers – constructing supporting spatial structures to make things happen.

Our constant engagement in academia is a crucial part of Lemonot. In 2018-19, we taught as Adjunct Professors at INDA in Bangkok and we’ve been Programme Heads of the AA Visiting School El Alto (Bolivia). Lorenzo taught at the University of Applied Arts Vienna  (dieAngewandte) in Architectural Studio 1 from 2020 to 2023, while Sabrina is currently Studio Master in the Foundation Course at the AA in London. Together, we now lead the Architectural Design Studio 7: Convivial-ism at the Royal College of Art in London. 

We collaborate with several cultural institution – including Arquine, La Biennale di Venezia, DPR Barcelona, LINA European Architecture Platform, S AM Basel, Architecture at the Edge (West Ireland) – and our projects have been exhibited and awarded internationally: among the others, at the Young Talent Architecture Award 2016, at the ATT19 Gallery in Bangkok, at the RIBA, at Vienna Design Week, at Bangkok Design Week, at Milan Design Week, at Archifest Singapore 2019, at Mextropoli 2021 in Mexico City, at FAR-Architecture Festival of Rome 2022 and at CAFx Copenhagen Architecture Film Festival 2023.

Furthermore, Lemonot is one of the 9 selected architectural practices for the Padiglione Italia – curated by Fosbury Architecture – of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, and Sabrina has been appointed as the 2024 Enel Foundation Italian Fellow in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome.

Lina Fellows 2022/2023

“Spaziale” – Padiglione Italia, Venice Architecture Biennale, 2023

close-40
This is Tooltip!
lemonot

Sabrina Morreale, AA Dipl
Lorenzo Perri, AA Dipl (Hons)

London, Vienna, Stockholm, La Paz and Italy

projects@lemonot.co.uk

ABOUT

This is Tooltip!

Sabrina Morreale and Lorenzo Perri are architects, educators and founding partners of Lemonot – a duo for spatial and relational practices, architecture and performative arts. We graduated together at the Architectural Association and we’re now based between London and Italy.

Our projects re-invent the relationship between urban fabric and human rituals through a wide range of media: pavilions, exhibitions, short films and designed performances. We relentlessly seek new forms of togetherness, with a contextual yet transterritorial approach that aims to detect, celebrate and trigger the spontaneous theatre of everyday life. 

We experiment with the language of artistic strategies in public space, empowering alternative narratives and unexpected interactions – to initiate unconventional acts of place-making. We explore how architects can contribute to a peculiar reinterpretation of the city, defining novel 1:1 experiences through short and long-term occupational strategies. Dealing with multiple stakeholders at the same time, we often intervene as both facilitators and designers – constructing supporting spatial structures to make things happen.

Our constant engagement in academia is a crucial part of Lemonot. In 2018-19, we taught as Adjunct Professors at INDA in Bangkok and we’ve been Programme Heads of the AA Visiting School El Alto (Bolivia). Lorenzo taught at the University of Applied Arts Vienna  (dieAngewandte) in Architectural Studio 1 from 2020 to 2023, while Sabrina is currently Studio Master in the Foundation Course at the AA in London. Together, we now lead the Architectural Design Studio 7: Convivial-ism at the Royal College of Art in London. 

We collaborate with several cultural institution – including Arquine, La Biennale di Venezia, DPR Barcelona, LINA European Architecture Platform, S AM Basel, Architecture at the Edge (West Ireland) – and our projects have been exhibited and awarded internationally: among the others, at the Young Talent Architecture Award 2016, at the ATT19 Gallery in Bangkok, at the RIBA, at Vienna Design Week, at Bangkok Design Week, at Milan Design Week, at Archifest Singapore 2019, at Mextropoli 2021 in Mexico City, at FAR-Architecture Festival of Rome 2022 and at CAFx Copenhagen Architecture Film Festival 2023.

Furthermore, Lemonot is one of the 9 selected architectural practices for the Padiglione Italia – curated by Fosbury Architecture – of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, and Sabrina has been appointed as the 2024 Enel Foundation Italian Fellow in Architecture at the American Academy in Rome.

Lina Fellows 2022/2023

“Spaziale” – Padiglione Italia, Venice Architecture Biennale, 2023