Buzz

by Nick Woodford, Matthew McGuinness, Jason Page (2019)

Buzz is located at the north end of the Bermondsey Street Tunnel, close to the junction of Tooley Street and next to London Bridge station.

Buzz is a substation transformation on the Low Line walking route, celebrating the food culture of London Bridge in vision and sound.

The vibrant 4-sided mural, created by artists Nick Woodford, Matthew McGuiness and Jason Page, evokes the flavours and sounds of neighbouring restaurants and bars; Pizza Pilgrims, Honest Burgers, Comptoir Libanais and Nine Lives. Wrapped around the facade of an otherwise unremarkable substation, it is both generated by and reflective of the drinks and dishes at the heart of local livelihoods.

Buzz also creates an unmissable addition to Bermondsey Street’s soundscape by marrying its own quiet hum of electrical current with the backing track of clattering plates and clinking glasses.

“Chatting with local restaurateurs, we saw a strong theme emerge around their journeys of food discovery. As we developed this exciting project in collaboration with the LFA and Team London Bridge, the substation offered us the opportunity to capture and share these from a new creative perspective – a canvas from which to transmit a sense of the audible energy behind the diverse local food culture.”
Nick Woodford.

Commissioned by Team London Bridge in partnership with London Festival of Architecture, Network Rail and UK Power Networks.

Nick Woodford, Matthew McGuiness and Jason Page

Nick Woodford, Mesh Workshop

While studying architecture at Central Saint Martins, Nick launched the Peckham Coal Line, bringing local residents together to adopt and connect unused open spaces to form a public linear park. Nick has also worked at Knox Bhavan Architects, ASSEMBLE architects and the Peabody Trust. Before architecture, Nick was a travel writer and photographer.

Matthew McGuinness

Matthew is a New York-born artist and designer and was a founding member of The Visual Mafia and The 62. After moving his studio to London, he founded the Gourmandizing London project. This collective came together during Matt’s personal experience as a head chef and connects art and cooking with South London communities.

Jason Page, Founder – South East Salon

Jason activates spaces, connects people and produces South East Salon, a physical network that celebrates South East London and connects creativity and enterprise with resources in exciting spaces.

Connections

Buzz is one of several projects Team London Bridge delivered along the Low Line; a walking destination for London spanning the Victorian rail viaducts through Bankside, London Bridge and Bermondsey.