MPavilion, Melbourne’s annual architecture and design event and temporary pavilion, has returned for its eighth season after a pandemic-disrupted year. This year’s iteration, with a structure designed by MAP Studio, the Italian architecture practice of Francesco Magnani and Traudy Pelzel, is kicking off on 2 December and running until 24 April 2022 – the longest MPavilion programme yet.
There will be 250 free events at this year’s pavilion, called ‘The LightCatcher’, in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens, which will be preceded by an online programme from 23 November. A series of talks, workshops, community projects and activities will be held throughout, with each month considering a different theme. In November, Island Life will be examined; in December, That Which Makes Things Visible; in January, Vacation, Location, Staycation; and in February, Rituals: Marking Life. The final two months will consider the bigger picture, with March looking at Design as a Human Right, and April, The Reality of this Time.
Skywhalepapa on its journey across the sky
‘Following two years of uncertainty, MPavilion 2021 provides an optimistic beacon of post-pandemic recovery for the creative life of our city,’ says Naomi Milgrom AC, founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. ‘MAP studio’s MPavilion will bring the community together and renew connections in a safe environment for our first season back in the Queen Victoria Gardens. Driven by our mission to champion architecture and design, our partnership with MAP and the diversity of this year’s programme promises to reinvigorate the dialogue between Melbourne and the rest of the world.’
Over 500 guests from Australia and around the world will participate in talks that include discussions from Grand Designs Australia host and architect Peter Maddison, design collective Space Saloon, and architects including Sean Godsell Architects, MOS, MVRDV, Sauerbruch Hutton, Bolles+Wilson, and Snøhetta. The talks will take place alongside MProjects, unique creations and residencies.
The MPavilion programme of events will encompass everything from tracing the journey of Skywhalepapa, the giant hot-air-balloon sculpture by Patricia Piccinini as it sets off over Melbourne, to the three-day forum on Indigenous architecture, BLAKitecture: The Manifesto.
Agency Projects
Show at the MPavilion
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