Forty gold angels sitting on swings have been installed by KHBT and Ottmar Hörlwatch to watch over commuters near St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Named Lunch Break, the installation for the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) is designed to be a temporary additional to St Paul's Plinth – a preexisting frame structure outside St Paul's tube station.

London studio KHBT and artist Ottmar Hörl's intention was to "celebrate what can happen at the creative boundary of art and architecture" in response to the festival theme –  boundaries.

"We are delighted to be able to team up with our long-standing collaborator artist Ottmar Hörl to implement Lunch Break," said Karsten Huneck, partner at KHBT.

"It is an emotional and imaginative piece that is aiming to make people think and smile. After all we feel that in this particular time guardian angels deserve some rest."

Using the wire grid of St Paul's Plinth as a base, the project creates both a conceptual and visual link to the St Paul's Cathedral.

The angels hang from randomly arranged bars, and each one is sculpted with "intricate detail" to echo the ornamentation of the cathedral's interiors.

They are finished with a golden spray-coating in a nod to the gold cross that sits atop the cathedral's dome.

"In the midst of the bustle and noise outside St Paul's tube station, Lunch Break offers a moment of calm, and a chance to contemplate boundaries – whether those between art and architecture or even that between daily life and the afterlife," said Tamsie Thomson, director of the LFA

"At the LFA we see our role as disrupting experiences in the city, and Lunch Break is a wonderful way of doing just that."

Lunch Break will be on display outside St Paul's tube station until the June 30.

Taking place every June, the LFA is the "world's largest annual architecture festival", and exists to support London's architectural and design talent while engaging with the public.

Elsewhere in the city, designer Yinka Ilori has teamed up with architecture studio Pricegore to create a multicoloured pavilion outside Dulwich Picture Gallery and five young designers have created City Benches to brighten London's Cheapside.

Photography is by Luke O'Donovan.