Melbourne, Australia - Naomi Milgrom AC, Founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and Professor Alec Cameron, Vice-Chancellor and President, RMIT University have today jointly announced that MPavilion 2022 designed by Rachaporn Choochuey of all(zone), Thailand has been gifted to RMIT University and will be relocated to its new home at RMITís Brunswick campus.
Experimenting with materials and forms being used for the first time in Australia, all(zone), a female-led architecture studio based in Bangkok, Thailand, worked closely with Melbourne based Zilka Studio, TENSYS and AECOM to realise MPavilion 2022. MPavilion 2022 at Queen Victoria Gardens saw 352 free events 8 December 2022 to 8 April 2023 involving over 600 collaborators and attracting over 350,000 visitors.
The pavilion is an innovative three-layered marquee that explores the potential of tensile architecture. The uppermost layer is a brightly coloured fishing net, giving the structure a tactile quality. The middle layer is crafted from an STFE membrane, as transparent as glass but 10 times lighter, this weather-proof polyarylate mesh was used for the first time in Australia. The lowermost layer comprises a waffle of colourful fabric that moves with the breeze and creates dappled light, evoking the feeling of resting under trees. Despite MPavilion 2022's lightness and ephemeral quality, it has been ingeniously engineered for longevity.
MPavilion 2022 has so far received eight Australian and international awards and commendations, including Winner in Architectural Design - Cultural, BLT Built Design Awards 2023, Gold, Architectural Design & Social Impact, Good Design Awards 2023, Jury Winner, Architecture + Colour, Architizer A+ Awards 2023, and is shortlisted in the Best Use of Colour and Completed Buildings - Culture, at the prestigious World Architecture Festival Awards for November 2023.
"We are delighted that all(zone)'s MPavilion will be relocated to RMITís Brunswick campus, a campus focused on a range of design disciplines. We hope that the pavilion's innovative design will inspire students and visitors alike at its new permanent home. This is the seventh MPavilion
gift to Victoria, and comes as we mark a decade of architectural commissions by the Foundation with the opening of MPavilion 10 at the Queen Victoria Gardens on 16 November," said Naomi Milgrom AC.
The pavilion's new home at RMIT will be strategically positioned as the heart of the central courtyard on its Brunswick campus, drawing visitors in from the street.
RMIT Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Alec Cameron said MPavilion RMIT will be a place of connection and inspiration for the University's community.
"MPavilion RMIT will give our students and staff a new space to come together for activities and events at our Brunswick campus, and act as a site for creative collaborations with the Merri-bek City Council and partners from the Brunswick Design District," he said.
"We are immensely grateful to Naomi Milgrom for this significant cultural gift and applaud her ongoing commitment to supporting art, design and critical discourse through the annual MPavilion program.
"RMIT is proud to have been involved in the program for many years and we look forward to MPavilion RMIT becoming another dynamic hub of creativity and conversation on campus."
Design Director of all(zone), Rachaporn Choochuey said, ìI am very happy to see that our MPavilion will have its home at RMIT, a university recognised globally for its focus on technology, design and enterprise. We hope our pavilion will act as a catalyst for future students to explore and test new innovations in sustainable architecture and design."
MPavilion 2022 was supported by the Victorian State Government through Creative Victoria and the City of Melbourne.
About MPavilion
MPavilion is Australia's leading architecture commission: a place for debate around the design of today and tomorrow. Conceived and created by Naomi Milgrom AC as an initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, MPavilion celebrates a decade as the country's cultural laboratory in 2023.
Since 2014, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation has invited extraordinary architects from Australia and across the world to design a meeting place for the Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne's heart. From this MPavilion, a five-month design festival of free events is launched - prompting locals and visitors alike to consider how architecture, art and design can change lives. When its season draws to a close, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation gifts each MPavilion to the people of Victoria - relocating it to a permanent home in the community where it can remain as a catalyst for conversation.
In its first decade, MPavilion has become one of Australia’s most anticipated design festivals — attracting over 1,250,000 visitors, with 350,000 in 2022 alone. Accessible and open, MPavilion is both of and for the community: hosting 3,400 events with 4,000 individuals and organisations during this period. MPavilion's myriad collaborations are a testament to Melbourne's status as a local and global centre of design. Its ambitious program is made possible through the visionary support of its partners, principally the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, the City of Melbourne, ANZ and Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Since its inception, MPavilion has won or been shortlisted for over 60 national and international architecture and design awards, including: Winner, Public Space, International Architecture Awards (2023); Jury Winner, Architecture+Colour, Architizer A+Awards (2023); Winner, Excellence in Community Engagement, Urban Developer Awards for Industry Excellence (2022); Winner, Architectural Design - Urban Design & Public Spaces, Good Design Awards (2019); Winner, Landscape Architecture Award, Australian Institute of Landscape Awards (2018); World's Top Temporary Structures, Designboom (2016); Winner, Detail Prize (2016).
Past architects include: Rachaporn Choochuey, all(zone), Thailand (MPavilion 2022); Francesco Magnani & Traudy Pelzel, MAP studio, Italy (MPavilion 2021); Glenn Murcutt AO, Australia (MPavilion 2019); Carme Pinós, Estudio Carme Pinós, Spain (MPavilion 2018), Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten, OMA, Netherlands (MPavilion 2017); Bijoy Jain, Studio Mumbai, India (MPavilion 2016); Amanda Levete, AL_A, United Kingdom (MPavilion 2015); Sean Godsell, Sean Godsell Architects, Australia (MPavilion 2014).
For further details, see the website MPavilion.org
Images Credits to John Gollings and William Hamilton-Coates
