The inaugural MPavilion unveiled

Located in the heart of Melbourne’s art and culture precinct, this inaugural pavilion is more than just an exhibition. The pop up structure marks the first year of MPavillion, a four-year project funded primarily by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and backed by City of Melbourne and the Victorian State Government. Each year during the spring and summer months, a temporary ‘club house’ will be erected in the Queen Victoria Gardens, parallel to the Arts Centre, to be a place of meeting, learning, and exploration.

The project was initiated by philanthropist Naomi Milgrom, who envisioned MPavilion to be not just for admirers of the arts but as a place for sharing and work-shopping. Her aspirations are for Melbourne to become “the design hub in the Asia Pacific area” and hopes this project will help put Victoria’s capital city on the map.

This, the first of four pavilions, was designed by local architect, Sean Godsell. Inspired by the Australian outback Godsell designed the simple shelter to be a community centre and a place of refuge from the relentless summer sun. The 12m x 12m temporary structure is made from reused parts of a 19th century wool-shed. Held up by a steel backbone, the pavilion has recycled timber floorboards and aluminium mesh ‘petals’, which unfold each morning. It will play host to a number of free events from October through to February, as well as home to a pop up kiosk run by Everyday Coffee.

In October 20 events will take place in the pavilion, most of which will be executed in conjunction with Melbourne Festival, which happens to coincide with the MPavillion’s opening. Four months of exciting art, culture and architecture events lie ahead, before it’s relocated to a permanent venue in the city.

mpavilion.org