Pearce+ Builds Guerrilla Shading Pavilion in Camden From Reused Timber

Architecture studio Pearce+ has completed a timber shading pavilion in Camden, north London, commissioned by the Camden Inspire festival. The structure now stands at the site of the Camden Collective charity. Its purpose is direct: to show that shade in the UK can be built cheaply, quickly and by hand.

"We wanted to show that shade can be practical, playful and beautiful," Pearce+ founder Owen Pearce told Dezeen.

"Making shade doesn't need to be expensive or complicated," he continued. "A bit of ingenuity, some simple materials and a few willing hands can go a long way."

How was the pavilion built?

The pavilion has a hexagonal form. Pearce+ prefabricated it in five trapezoidal sections and assembled them on site. Every piece of timber came from previous Pearce+ projects — no new wood was cut for the structure.

The slated timber walls shade a small interior space. The structure also functions as an anchor: large pieces of fabric attach to it, forming a roof for additional shading.

The lower sections were left deliberately unfinished. Festival visitors completed them by weaving donated fabric into the walls — a hands-on demonstration of the studio's wider Guerrilla Shading initiative, which encourages people to add shade to streets and public spaces themselves.

Why shade, and why now?

Pearce+ developed the structure with the organisation Shade The UK. The partnership targets a specific gap: the country's unpreparedness for hot summers.

"Shade is one of the simplest ways to make our increasingly hot environments more bearable, yet it's remarkably overlooked in the UK," said Pearce.

"We have surprisingly short memories when it comes to hot summers, and conversations about overheating quickly disappear when the weather cools," he continued.

His prescription is structural as well as personal. "We need to start treating shade as essential infrastructure, not a seasonal luxury. That means changing planning policy, but also empowering people to take action themselves."

What does Pearce want the public to do?

The architect frames the pavilion as a prompt for citizen action. "I'd love people to adopt a can-do attitude for shading," he said. "Look around your school, garden, street or local park and ask: where could we make some shade? Who could we work with? What could we make it from?"

His timeline is explicit. "And don't wait until the next heatwave!" he continued. "Start thinking and making now, so we're ready for next summer. Small, creative interventions can make a real difference and spark much bigger conversations."

Where does the pavilion go next?

The structure was designed to be dismantled and reassembled. According to Pearce, each rebuild will carry new shade sails and new contributions.

"It's currently at the festival's home of Camden Collective, but organisers Camden Unlimited are planning to take it on tour in the new year with local organisations or schools, so hopefully it will continue evolving and sparking conversations," he said.

His personal ambition reaches further. "Personally, I'd love to take it to Glastonbury. Anyone who's been there during a heatwave knows there's precious little shade! A series of collectively made shading structures across the festival could be brilliant."

Momentum Engineering served as structural engineer on the project. Photography is by Ben Sage. The pavilion joins a small but growing cluster of shade-focused public works: architect Liz Gálvez recently built a pavilion in Los Angeles from cord and earthen blocks to showcase urban shade's potential, and the Camden tour beginning in the new year will test whether a collectively woven structure can hold public attention past the summer months.

By Elena Vasquez