OMA’s Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten to design 2017 MPavilion

The Naomi Milgrom Foundation has announced that the commission for the fourth annual MPavilion has been awarded to internationally renowned Netherlands-based OMA and will be designed by Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten. MPavilion 2017 will be OMA’s first completed architectural commission in Australia.

The announcement comes as MPavilion 2016 closed on Sunday 18 February having welcomed more than 94,000 visitors and hosted more than 487 free events over 139 days within the temporary architectural pavilion designed by acclaimed Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai.

Naomi Milgrom AO, Chair of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation who commissioned OMA to design MPavilion 2017 commented: “Rem Koolhaas is one of the world’s most provocative and influential architects. His contribution to the cultural landscape as an urban thinker together with OMA’s multi-disciplinary approach to architecture reflects MPavilion’s desire to inspire debate about the role of design in building equitable and creative cities.”

Commenting on their commission for MPavilion 2017, Rem Koolhaas, Founder and David Gianotten, Managing Partner of OMA said: “The Naomi Milgrom Foundation’s MPavilion is now a project of international significance and we look forward to contributing to the architectural legacy it has engendered.”

“We are excited by the brief of designing a cultural heart for the city – a space of public engagement that will spark creativity and discussion, and that will act as a theatre for ideas. MPavilion continues OMA’s history of successful cultural projects –Fondazione Prada in Milan, the Garage Museum in Moscow’s Gorky Park, Casa da Musica in Porto, the Seattle Public Library – all of which have become important civic centres and independent spaces for the public.”

OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture) are prolific architects, designers and theorists and was founded by visionary Rem Koolhaas, a Pritzker prize-winning architect. Together with eight partners Koolhaas heads the work of both OMA and AMO, the research branch of OMA, operating in areas beyond the realm of architecture such as media, politics, renewable energy and fashion.

David Gianotten is OMA’s Managing Partner Architect, responsible for the management and growth of OMA worldwide and is the responsible partner-in-charge of numerous projects in Asia, Australia and Europe including the New Museum project in Perth and Rotterdam’s new Feyenoord football stadium.

Together Koolhaas and Gianotten are responsible for the design and execution of the Taipei Performing Arts Centre. OMA completed large scale projects in recent years include the Qatar Foundation Headquarters in Doha; Faena District in Miami; London’s Design Museum; Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow; Fondazione Prada in Milan; Shenzhen Stock Exchange; De Rotterdam; and CCTV Headquarters in Beijing.

MPavilion 2017 will open free to the public on3 October 2017. For further details please visit www.mpavilion.org