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Melbourne, Australia: The inaugural MPavilion was today unveiled in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens, the first in a major new series of annual architecture commissions and design events initiated by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, which will be presented free to the public from 7 October 2014 until 1 February 2015.

The first MPavilion commission was awarded to internationally acclaimed architect Sean Godsell, who has designed a contemporary pavilion that will be brought to life over its four-month presentation into a vibrant cultural hub activated by a diverse and engaging public program – all offered free to the public. The MPavilion public program – commencing in October with performances presented as part of Melbourne Festival - includes 20 talks, 28 workshops, 18 music events, 14 film screenings, 7 walking and bike tours, 4 art interventions and 2 dance performances.

Mr Godsell, who recently won the International Architecture Award of the Chicago Athenaeum Museum and the National Award for Public Architecture at the AIA Awards 2014 for his design of Melbourne’s RMIT Design Hub, commented on his design: “The MPavilion is a simple steel structure with glazed roof and fully automated outer skin. It provides shade and shelter and filters the sun. Its precedent can be seen on distant hills and far horizons in the Australian outback.

“The design incorporates an innovative construction with wall and roof panels that open and close on pneumatic arms. This fully automated ‘outer skin’ means that the pavilion will ‘open’ each morning and ‘close’ at the end of the day in a number of different configurations. Its exterior is perforated aluminium that reflects light and animates the building. Conceived as architecture that ‘blooms like a flower’ each day and opens to its audience, it also has a mysterious box-like quality at night,” add Mr Godsell.

MPavilion is the first major project to be delivered by the recently established Naomi Milgrom Foundation. As part of a landmark public/private partnership with the City of Melbourne and the Victorian State Government, the Foundation has committed to funding the design and construction of at least four annual temporary pavilions to be presented in the Gardens across spring and summer each year, before gifting the pavilion to the City of Melbourne.

Naomi Milgrom AO, Chair of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, said: “MPavilion will reinforce Melbourne’s standing as a global leader in design and architecture with the creation of a pavilion designed by four outstanding architects over four years. Through my foundation I want to initiate a truly inspirational design and architecture project for Melbourne with an enduring legacy. I was inspired by London’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion and have sought to take this idea further by adding a robust cultural program that celebrates design, architecture and creativity in our city,” said Ms Milgrom.

Julia Peyton-Jones OBE, Co-Director of London’s Serpentine Gallery, travelled to Melbourne to launch MPavilion, commenting: “I am thrilled to assist Naomi Milgrom in her vision to create a new arts project for Melbourne that celebrates contemporary architecture in a landscaped setting and acts as a catalyst for cultural enrichment and international connections. Naomi has the energy and integrity to make this project reality and I believe it will add enormously to Melbourne’s social and cultural life.”

The official opening of MPavilion was commemorated with a new composition by Deborah Cheetham AO, Yorta Yorta soprano, educator and Artistic Director of Australia's national Indigenous company Short Black Opera. Ms Cheetham composed a celebratory and welcoming new song titled "Long Journey Boon Wurrung", composed in Boon Wurrung language in consultation with elder, Aunty Carolyne. The song was specially performed by the Dhungala Children's Choir from regional Victoria at the opening, conducted by Ms Cheetham and accompanied by the Federation Bells.

MPavilion has been constructed in the heart of the City’s creative hub within the Southbank Arts Precinct, inside the Queen Victoria Gardens on St Kilda Road, opposite the Arts Centre Melbourne. At the conclusion of the public presentation of MPavilion, the pavilion will be gifted to the City of Melbourne with the Council planning to relocate the pavilions to permanent sites in the city and so create an ongoing legacy of contemporary architecture.

The Hon Louise Asher MP, Minister for Tourism and Major Events, commented: “MPavilion will cement Melbourne’s standing as a major hub for design and architecture in the Asia-Pacific, creating an event that will benefit both Victorians and visitors to our State. The project will also contribute to the Victorian design sector which already generates an estimated $204million in design-related exports annually."

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said: “I am pleased that the City of Melbourne is collaborating with the Naomi Milgrom Foundation on this new design initiative. The Council shares many of the Foundation’s ambitions: enlivening public spaces, developing bold new initiatives, engaging with education and creating high quality design programming.”

Renowned landscape designer Paul Bangay was commissioned to design the perennial borders surrounding the inaugural MPavilion. Mr Bangay added: “In the same site where l created five Botanica exhibitions over 20 years ago, l am fortunate to be able to create another botanical exhibition. For MPavilion I have designed a series of contemporary flowering herbaceous borders, the largest in any of our public parks, using 3000 flowering perennials that will flower throughout the summer whilst MPavilion is presented.”


• MPavilion is open to the public from 7 October 2014 until 1 February 2015
• Entry to MPavilion will be free to the public and all programmed events presented at MPavilion will be free, although some will be ticketed due to limited capacity