November 14, 2019–March 22, 2020
The Naomi Milgrom Foundation today released the design for MPavilion 2019, by Australia’s only Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, Glenn Murcutt AO. The refined, white minimal design reflects Murcutt’s significant contribution to climate-responsive architecture. Celebrating the 50th year of Murcutt’s globally influential design practice, MPavilion 2019 will be a milestone summer attraction built in the Queen Victoria Gardens.
MPavilion 2019 relays Murcutt’s longstanding interest in buildings that make efficient use of site and climatic conditions. Prioritising a view of the river and city skyline, the MPavilion consists of a climate responsive rectangular plan with steel frames supporting wing-like trusses covered in tensioned translucent fabric, resulting in a buoyant white roof that will be lit from within at night. The result will be a sleek and adaptable MPavilion, resting on the landscape.
Naomi Milgrom AO, founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, which commissions each year’s MPavilion, said: “Glenn’s very thoughtfully considered MPavilion reflects everything the world has come to love and appreciate about his distinctly Australian design practice over fifty years. I’m excited to bring a new Glenn Murcutt design to life for the community to share.”
Commenting on his MPavilion design, Glenn Murcutt AO said: “The MPavilion design is a crisp white building that will be lit at night like a lantern, giving the pavilion a feeling of lightness. For me it was central to establish a sense of ‘place’ for visitors—to view from within the building, the gardens, the river, and the city.”
Influenced by a memory of using a light aircraft’s wing as a temporary shade during a trip to Mexico to visit the Yaxchilán ruins, Murcutt’s MPavilion makes use of a membrane lined curved roof and aileron-like flaps to allow for shade and rain pathways. Open along the north and south elevations, the MPavilion’s south elevation is fitted with retractable fabric blinds to provide a level of wind protection when required. At each end of the MPavilion there are alcoves, membrane lined externally, and timber-slat pivot doors internally.
Taking on a second life, the MPavilion at the end of each season is then gifted by the Foundation to the public. Becoming a legacy of architect-designed pavilions for the state of Victoria, the series enables design awareness to continue into new communities for years to come.
MPavilion is supported by major partners City of Melbourne, the State Government of Victoria through Creative Victoria and Development Victoria, and ANZ. Bringing the pavilion to fruition, design and construction partners include structural engineers AECOM, specialist tensile roof fabric advisor Temple Architecture, surveyors AAM Group and builders Kane Constructions.
Murcutt’s design has inspired MPavilion’s program themes for its 2019/20 season of free events and will open in the Queen Victoria Gardens, Southbank Arts Precinct, on November 14, 2019 until March 22, 2020.
For further information, please visit www.mpavilion.org
Contact: media@mpavilion.org
About MPavilion
MPavilion is Australia’s leading architectural commission and design event conceived and created by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Every year one new temporary pavilion, designed by a leading international architect, is erected in Melbourne’s historic Queen Victoria Gardens. Over summer, MPavilion becomes a design and cultural laboratory, and home to a series of talks, workshops, performances and installations.
At the end of each season the MPavilion is then gifted by the Foundation to the people of Victoria and relocated to a new permanent home to be engaged by the community. MPavilion 2017, designed by Netherlands-based duo Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of OMA, can now be found on the grounds of Monash University’s Clayton campus; MPavilion 2016, designed by Bijoy Jain of India’s Studio Mumbai, is located at Melbourne Zoo; MPavilion 2015, designed by AL_A, the studio of British architect Amanda Levete, has a permanent home in Melbourne’s Docklands; and MPavilion 2014, designed by Australian architect Sean Godsell of Sean Godsell Architects, can be found at Melbourne’s Hellenic Museum.
The Naomi Milgrom Foundation was founded in 2014, and its purpose is to enrich Australian cultural life by engaging new audiences with exceptional art, design and architecture. The Foundation, led by philanthropist Naomi Milgrom AO, has become a model for public-private collaboration by enabling new projects with a focus on public, industry and education components.
