Glenn Murcutt, Australia’s most famous architect and Australia's only Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate, has revealed his lantern-inspired 2019 MPavilion, which will open on Thursday, November 14, in the Queen Victoria Gardens, in the centre of Melbourne’s Southbank Arts Precinct, Australia. 

Released with first images, captured by architectural photographer John Gollings, Murcutt designed the serene and climate-sensitive MPavilion by maintaining a distinctive Australian character on the project. 

Murcutt's pavilion is the sixth temporary structure in ongoing series of the MPavilion this year. This year's MPavilion is opened to the public on Thursday 14 November 2019 and will be on view until Sunday 22 March 2020.

Video by MPavilion

MPavilion is an annual architectural commissions initiated in 2014 by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, an organisation set up by businesswoman and philanthropist Naomi Milgrom, and supported by City of Melbourne, State Government of Victoria through Creative Victoria, and ANZ.

MPavilion 2019 takes inspiration from Glenn’s storied career and looks to the future as a climate-responsive and environmentally responsible public design for the whole community. 

"I felt a crisp white building that at night could be lit from within its roof—like a lantern in the Queen Victoria Gardens, giving the pavilion a feeling of lightness—would sit comfortably in the location," said Glenn Murcutt. 

"Having the pavilion face north, open towards the river, I could work with good climatic conditions. This also means that from within the MPavilion one can view the gardens to the river and the city."

The design was also influenced by a picnic under the wing of a light aircraft on a trip Glenn took to Mexico thirty years ago, resulting in an expansive all-white structure with a fabric roof, touched down lightly in the gardens. The design brings to mind Glenn’s learned Indigenous knowledge to “Touch the earth lightly” with his architecture.

"Glenn’s fifty-year practice has inspired a new movement in thinking about climate-responsive design," said Naomi Milgrom AO, chair of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, who commissioned Glenn Murcutt to design MPavilion 2019.

"His MPavilion refines the Australian characteristics we’ve all come to love about his buildings, and provokes a conversation about how Australian design can lead a growing international conversation about the future of cities."

Glenn Murcutt worked with structural engineers AECOM, specialist tensile roof fabric advisor Temple Architecture, builders Kane Constructions, building surveyors Gardner Group, lighting designers Bluebottle in collaboration with JSB Lighting, and visual identity by Studio Ongarato.

The Naomi Milgrom Foundation also commissioned acclaimed Melbourne-based designer Chris Connell to create a stool for use during the 2019/20 season. They created the "MP Stool", a sleek and earth-red stool made locally in collaboration with Melbourne furniture design and manufacture practice grazia&co.

The opening of MPavilion 2019 heralds four months of free talks, workshops, performances, community projects, kid-friendly experiences and more. 

Inspired by Glenn's internationally influential fifty-year practice, this season's program explores Australian design and identity, cultural collaboration, earth and climate, and knowledge sharing. You can view the full program here.

On Saturday, November 16, Glenn Murcutt will be in conversation with Naomi Milgrom AO, founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, which commissions MPavilion each year.

All images © John Gollings

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