Sunday Arts Magazine

26 Jul 2021

MPavillion 2021-2022. Sam Redston talks to Neil and Eve.

Performing Arts, Society & Culture

The Naomi Milgrom Foundation yesterday released the design for MPavilion 2021, the seventh MPavilion in an ongoing series, by MAP studio (Venice) architects Francesco Magnani & Traudy Pelzel. The geometric, kaleidoscopic design—‘The LightCatcher’— has been envisioned as an urban lighthouse, set to illuminate MPavilion’s diverse program of free cultural events over the summer.

MAP studio—an architecture, urbanism and design practice based in Venice, Italy—is renowned for responding to existing sites in a sensitive and celebratory way. This approach has been especially poignant as MPavilion 2021 returns to its original home in the Queen Victoria Gardens.

A project more than two years in the making, the MPavilion by MAP studio was originally slated for construction in 2020, with progress postponed as the world responded to the COVID-19 crisis. The Naomi Milgrom Foundation is delighted that MAP studio’s MPavilion can now come to fruition.

Commenting on their MPavilion design, Traudy Pelzel said: “The structure we imagine is a shimmering device that qualifies itself as an urban lighthouse that hosts and enlightens the cultural activities planned for the 2021 summer season in Melbourne….A kaleidoscopic structure that reflects and amplifies activities, people and colours. For this reason, we call it ‘The Lightcatcher.’”

The MPavilion design comprises a reticular steel structure in galvanized and painted tubular profiles that support a set of panels in a mirror-finish aluminium coating, reflecting light, colours, activities and people who will use the space. These surfaces will also function as shading elements. The MPavilion 2021 structure appears to float above the ground level on a coloured, organic-shaped surface.

MAP studio’s design has inspired MPavilion’s program themes for its 2021/22 season of free events and will open in the Queen Victoria Gardens, Southbank Arts Precinct, on 11 November 2021 until 20 March 2022.

Taking on a second life, at the end of each season the MPavilion is then gifted by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation to the public. Becoming a legacy of esteemed architect-designed pavilions for the state of Victoria, the series enables design awareness to continue in new communities for years to come.

About MAP studio (Venice)

Located at Palazzo Foscarini in the historic centre of Venice, MAP studio is a young and exciting practice that considers architecture to be a process of constant dialogue, between client and creative, past and present, environment and inhabitant. Founded in 2010, MAP studio (Venice) is renowned for its considerate, deeply site-responsive work—a quality that will be especially significant as MPavilion 2021 takes shape at its original home on Boon Wurrung land in the Queen Victoria Gardens.

About the Naomi Milgrom Foundation

Since 2014, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation has enriched Australian cultural life by engaging new audiences with exceptional art, design and architecture. Led by Naomi Milgrom AC, the Foundation has become a model for public-private collaboration by enabling new projects with a focus on public engagement, industry stimulation, and education.

About MPavilion

MPavilion is Australia’s leading architectural commission and design event, conceived and created by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. A philanthropic success story that brings government, business and private sectors together to collaborate in significant and lasting ways season after season, MPavilion plays a key role in securing Melbourne’s status as Australia’s design capital.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:27 — 12.0MB)

Subscribe or Follow Us: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Blubrry | Podchaser | Email | RSS

16 Apr 2024

Sunday Arts Magazine: Spencer Harrison(broadcast live from Immigration Museum)

Arts

Broadcast live from the Immigration Museum, Sunday Arts Magazine proudly welcomes Ballarat Artist, Spencer Harrison, as special guest. Spencer is a ...

16 Apr 2024

Sunday Arts Magazine: Rohini Kappadath(broadcast live from the Immigration Museum)

Arts

Now for a Sunday Arts Magazine with a difference. Broadcast from the Immigration Centre in Melbourne, the team chat ...

16 Apr 2024

Sunday Arts Magazine: Stephen A Russell

Arts

Sunday Arts Magazine proudly welcomes recurring guest, award-winning film critic and arts journalist, Stephen A. Russell. Stephen was imported from Glasgow, ...