Tadao Ando Selected for Tenth MPavilion

Much like fellow Pritzker Prize winner Glenn Murcutt, who designed the sixth MPavilion, in 2019, Tadao Ando needs no introduction. (Regardless, a handful of his buildings are illustrated below.) But like Rem Koolhaas, the equally famous Dutch architect who designed the 2017 MPavilion with fellow OMA partner David Gianotten, Ando had not built in Australia before his commission. As such, Naomi Milgrom and her namesake foundation will be blessing Melbourne with what a remarkable first, and what promises to be an enriching setting for the free public events hosted by the pavilion.

While details of Ando's design for the 10th MPavilion will not be unveiled until May, he hinted at its design in a statement: “The design for the MPavilion began with a desire to find a scene of eternity within the public gardens of the Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne. Eternal, not in material or structure, but in the memory of a landscape that will continue to live in people’s hearts.” 

Established in 2014 by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, MPavilion is a temporary structure set up to host events every summer in Melbourne's Queen Victoria Gardens. Following each season, the MPavilions are gifted to the people of Victoria and relocated permanently to a public place. Australian architect Sean Godsell designed the inaugural MPavilion in 2014 and the most recent pavilion, with its orange mesh canopy on display until April 6, was designed by (all)zone, the Bangkok studio led by Rachaporn Choochuey.