MPavilion 2017 gifted to Monash University
Naomi Milgrom AO, founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, today announced that MPavilion 2017, designed by world-leading urban thinkers and architects Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten of OMA, has been gifted to the people of Melbourne and will be relocated from its temporary site at the Queen Victoria Gardens to its new home at Monash University, Clayton. The fourth MPavilion in a series of six to be gifted by Naomi Milgrom; the relocation is underway with assistance from the City of Melbourne.
Naomi Milgrom AO, founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation said: “The relocation of Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten’s MPavilion to Monash University ensures it will continue to be a dynamic incubator, where ideas about architecture, design, and creativity are encouraged and nurtured. I’m extremely pleased that it will carry on inspiring our young practitioners.”
Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten of OMA commented: “We are pleased that OMA’s MPavilion 2017 will be relocated to one of Melbourne’s universities; places of knowledge and debate. MPavilion will engage and support the development of Monash University and the City of Melbourne. We look forward to seeing it in its exciting new context.”
Work on the installation of MPavilion 2017 at the Monash University site has begun. Monash University President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner AO said the MPavilion would be located at the front entrance of the Clayton campus near the new Learning and Teaching Building and close to public transport and parking.
Professor Gardner said: “MPavilion is an exciting addition to the diverse array of performance, teaching and learning spaces available at Monash. As a unique space for activities and events, it will provide an invaluable asset for the benefit of the surrounding community. I am delighted that this innovative example of contemporary design will be situated at our Clayton campus.”
The Acting Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne Arron Wood said he was pleased that the relocation of the fourth MPavilion would provide yet another high profile site in keeping with its predecessors. He added: “MPavilion is a unique public/private partnership led by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and the City of Melbourne. The program has helped cement Melbourne’s reputation as the architecture and design capital of Australia.”
Due to popular demand, MPavilion’s 2017 summer season was extended and closed on Sunday 11 February. It welcomed 117,000+ visitors and 477 free events over 133 days, engaging more than 550 collaborators including cultural institutions, architects, artists, musicians, dancers, choreographers, scientists, designers and more.
As part of the foundation’s ‘Architecture in the City’ strategy, each MPavilion has been gifted to the city following its season in the Queen Victoria Gardens. MPavilion 2014, designed by Australian architect Sean Godsell, permanently resides in the gardens of the Hellenic Museum; MPavilion 2015, designed by British architect Amanda Levete of AL_A, is located at a park on Collins Street, Docklands; and MPavilion 2016, designed by Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, India is now in Melbourne Zoo.
The commission for MPavilion 2018 has been awarded to internationally renowned Spain-based architect and educator Carme Pinós of Estudio Carme Pinós. Education, social housing, humanist architecture and gender equality are the key themes that will underpin MPavilion this year.
MPavilion is Australia’s leading architecture commission and design event made possible through the vision of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation — and Australian philanthropist Naomi Milgrom AO. MPavilion is a philanthropic success story that has seen government, business and private sectors collaborate to bring an important civic space to Melbourne with a strong public, industry and educational component.
MPavilion is supported by major partners City of Melbourne, the Victorian State Government through Creative Victoria, and ANZ, and has received over 351,000 visitors since its inception in 2014.
MPavilion 2017 at Monash University, Clayton Campus will officially open on 8 May 2018.
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