The Pangolin Shield Pavilion by Studio Saar at London Design Festival 2026 – Photos by Mark Cocksedge, courtesy of London Design Festival.

Design, Architecture. At this year’s London Design Festival, the Pangolin Shield Pavilion brings striking storytelling to Strand Aldwych [Map]. Designed by Studio Saar with structural engineers Atelier One, the piece is built from a bamboo grid shell wrapped in traditional Indian police shields — woven from cane and bamboo — alongside handmade rain shields, or “knups”, traditionally used by farmers in north-eastern India. Supported by Secure, it will be on view until 20 September.

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Named after the pangolin — the world’s most trafficked mammal — the Pangolin Shield Pavilion carries a double meaning, nodding to both the UK’s colonial history and today’s political repression in the Far East. As the designers put it, the structure “takes the police shields and knups out of their original context of authority and instead presents them as protective shelter, bringing people together in a place to feel safe, explore, and connect.”

The location adds another layer: the pavilion sits beside Somerset House, once home to the administration of the British Navy during the colonial period, and just behind the Indian High Commission, near a bust of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister.

The bamboo itself tells a story of scale and diversity, sourced from three Indian states — Meghalaya, Punjab and Karnataka — each contributing to a sense of the country’s breadth and to the project’s wider ambition: “Bringing together people from all generations, it seeks to spark conversation and curiosity about culture, heritage and advanced material innovation.”

The Pangolin Shield Pavilion also pairs tradition with innovation. The project aims to spotlight bamboo’s technical potential as a serious construction material, not just a craft one. Step inside and you’ll find a pangolin sculpture alongside the project’s original drawings, giving visitors a closer look at how the concept came together.

Behind it all is Studio Saar’s broader mission: creating spaces where life can genuinely thrive, rooted in cross-cultural exchange and sustainable ideas developed jointly across the UK and India.

All photos are by Mark Cocksedge, courtesy of London Design Festival.