MPavilion 2021—MAP studio (Venice)
MPavilion 2021—MAP studio (Venice)
MPavilion is an ongoing initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, supported by City of Melbourne and State Government of Victoria, through Creative Victoria. Every year the Naomi Milgrom Foundation commissions an outstanding architect to design a temporary pavilion for the Queen Victoria Gardens, in the centre of Melbourne’s Southbank Arts Precinct, which are then gifted to the state of Victoria.
In 2021, globally acclaimed architects Francesco Magnani and Traudy Pelzel of MAP studio (Venice) designed a kaleidoscopic urban lighthouse for MPavilion’s biggest season yet.
Renowned for responding to existing sites in a way that is both sensitive and celebratory, MAP studio’s MPavilion heralded a milestone for Melbourne, representing a significant path back to re-energising the creative and cultural life of the city. The mirrored kaleidoscopic cube featuring an open steel structure on four u-shaped concrete columns, ‘The Lightcatcher’ was conceived as an urban lighthouse – the angled mirrored panels act as a container of ideas that reflect and amplify both the people and cultural activity taking place in MPavilion and its ever-changing environment in the Queen Victoria Gardens.
Photograph by John Gollings
The MPavilion 2021 season ran from 23 November 2021 to 24 April 2022 and played a significant role in re-energising the creative life of the city after months of lockdown in Melbourne.
Outcomes
The MPavilion 2021 season ran from 23 November 2021 to 24 April 2022 and enjoyed an overwhelming public response as Melbourne came back to life after months of lockdown. The program explored ‘Island Life’, ‘That Which Makes Things Visible’, ‘Vacation, Location, Staycation’, ‘Rituals: Marking Life’, ‘Design as a Human Right’ and ‘The Reality of This Time’.
Highlights: Celebrated Australian design with special commissions by the foundation including the MP21 Chair ‘The Dancer’ by Nüüd Studio and uniform by Erik Yvon. MPavilion’s fifth annual BLAKitecture series, ‘The Manifesto’—curated by Sarah Lynn Rees, brought together Indigenous voices to share conversations about architecture and the future of built environments. DJ 101 with DJ Sarah saw eight female and non-binary talents mentored for six weeks to become gig-ready DJs, performing their first set at MPavilion.
55,700
Visitors over 152 days
355
Events
510
collaborators, including cultural institutions, architects, artists, musicians, dancers, choreographers, scientists, designers and more.
11
Design commissions