OMA's MPavilion Design Unveiled

Koolhaas and Gianotten describe the temporary structure as "a cultural laboratory" that will draw the community inside. Their design is made up of three main elements: two grand stands at grade, one fixed, the other movable; and a two-meter-high grid structure made of aluminum-clad steel that floats overhead. In reality, the floating roof is supported on columns embedded in the bermed, plant-covered grand stand and a central column about which the movable seating rotates. The latter's movement (depicted in drawings at bottom) allows events to be focused in the central space beneath the roof or out toward the park.

Naomi Milgrom, MPavilion founder, calls the OMA design an "exciting design [that] engenders a theatre for ideas with Melbourne as its backdrop." This sentiment is reiterated by the architects, who say the static and dynamic elements "[allow] for many configurations and can generate unexpected programming, echoing the ideals of the typology of the amphitheater. With the city as a backdrop, the MPavilion provokes discussion on Melbourne, its development, and its surroundings."

Dutch architects Koolhaas and Gianotten were selected by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation in February. Their MPavilion iteration follows those by Australia's Sean Godsell, Britain's Amanda Levete, and India's Bijoy Jain.