Meeras Pavilion was co-designed across Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh, where more than a million Rohingya live. Designers from the Creative Advocacy Partnership, a collective we’re proud to be part of, sat with Rohingya artisans in the camps to prototype ideas by hand. Back in Sydney, Rohingya women met every fortnight in Lakemba to shape the cultural program. By opening night, more than 150 people had helped make it.

Sixteen towering taro leaves in bamboo, steel and hand-woven rope. At the base of each one sits a water jug wrapped in rope work. Rest your hand on it and water rolls across the leaf in light, set to field recordings of rain on the Myanmar border and the sound of people making together.

There are more than 800 lights inside, and we designed and built every one of them in our studio. You don't notice any of that when you're there. What stays with you is the rain.

In October 2025, Meeras Pavilion stood in Customs House Square on Gadigal Country as part of Art & About Sydney. It hosted bamboo, embroidery and henna workshops, school programs, advocacy training and a fashion parade of 30 garments handmade by the community. There was even a new song, written and performed in the Rohingya language.

More than 35,000 people visited. Online, the taro leaf became a symbol for Rohingya advocacy. It was seen more than 20 million times and carried by artisans, protesters and world leaders.

"Now people will know who the Rohingya are."

"This is the first time I'm realising who I am."

"I look forward to these workshops, it is my medicine."

- Rohingya collaborators on Meeras Pavilion

“Receiving Gold at the Good Design Awards for Meeras Pavilion is a huge honour. This three-year collaboration with the Rohingya community was our first project in which the community informed our creative and design process, and it has profoundly shaped how we approach our work.

One of the most rewarding moments was seeing Meeras Pavilion on display in the heart of Sydney, in front of Customs House. It brought people together to share knowledge and culture, and to find connection through art.

This recognition highlights what becomes possible when art, design and community leadership come together, and gives visibility to a way of working that we hope will inspire others.”

Simone Chua, Director, Amigo & Amigo

This award belongs to everyone who made Meeras Pavilion possible. Thank you to Creative Advocacy Partnership, the Australia Rohingya Women's Development Organisation, The Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, Médecins Sans Frontières, Lucid Space Design, Elom Initiatives, Otis Studios and Event Engineering. Thanks also to our commissioners: City of Sydney, Médecins Sans Frontières, Amnesty International, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Refugee Council of Australia and Australian Global Health Alliance.

Most of all, thank you to the Rohingya women, artists and families who trusted us with their stories.

Meeras Pavilion was designed to travel. Its leaves are built from one repeating pattern, so the whole structure comes apart into stackable pieces, and so does the lighting system. It can carry the story to the next city.