MPavilion 2018 officially launched

Urban.com.au was in attendance on Monday morning, as the Naomi Milgrom Foundation officially opened the Carme Pinós-designed MPavilion 2018 at the Queen Victoria Gardens. Carme Pinós was selected to design the 2018 MPavilion on the back of her community-focused philosophy of design, with the Barcelona-based architect and educator becoming the first female Spanish architect to design public work in Australia.

MPavilion 2018 marks the fifth incarnation in an ongoing series that was initiated and commissioned by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation with support from the City of Melbourne, the Victorian State Government through Creative Victoria and ANZ. The pavilion this year celebrates building communities and women in leadership, with a free four-month program of events from 9 October 2018 to 3 February 2019, featuring over 500 Australian and international guests and collaborators. 

The previous four MPavilion installations have found permanent homes at the end of their program duration at the Hellenic Club, Docklands, Melbourne Zoo and most recently, Monash University's Clayton Campus.

MPavilion 2018 was officially opened by MPavilion founder Naomi Milgrom AO, architect Carme Pinós of Estudio Carme Pinós and the City of Melbourne’s Councillor Rohan Leppert. The opening event was commemorated with a live performance from Yorta Yorta soprano Deborah Cheetham AO and Dhungala Children’s Choir.

What they say...

Working with Carme to bring her inspiring MPavilion design to life has been an absolute pleasure. Carme’s vision opens Australia to conversations about how to make our cities more inclusive through design. It’s a privilege to commission a work with such international and future-thinking insight.

- Naomi Milgrom AO, chair of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation

For the past four years, MPavilion has celebrated and showcased the best of contemporary Australian and international architecture right in the heart of our city, winning eight national and international awards.  The annual MPavilion program has been a major success, featuring collaborations between more than 1,000 designers, architects, cultural and educational institutions. The City of Melbourne is proud MPavilion continues to call Melbourne home and I’m excited to visit the gardens and see this year’s pavilion.

- Lord Mayor of the City of Melbourne Sally Capp

In designing this year’s MPavilion, I wanted firstly to make a space for the people of Melbourne to feel connected—to each other, to the city they live in, and to nature. We are all part of the world, and architecture can tell that story and provide a place for us to experience life together. I hope the MPavilion becomes a flow of knowledge and creativity this summer.

- Carme Pinós of Estudio Carme Pinós 

MPavilion 2018 Program

A selection of events Urban.com.au readers might be interested in checking out at MPavilion are listed below:

• The first event of the season: MTalks: ‘The land on which we stand’ Oct 9 – Carme Pinos joins a panel discussion curated by Melbourne Festival on the exploration of country, levels of meaning, occupation and use of land, followed by a keynote lecture that evening on her vision of architecture and urbanism.
• MTalks: Parlour in Conversation: Carme Pinos and Kerstin Thompson Oct 10 – Carme appears for a final time with MPavilion founder Naomi Milgrom AO and ABC journalist and author Virginia Trioli in a conversation about design, leadership and this year’s MPavilion journey
• MTalks: BLAKitecture series of five panels on Indigenous built environment curated by Palawa woman and Director of Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria, Sarah Lynn Rees. Including ‘Women’s business’ Oct 15, ‘Indigenising procurement’ 12 Nov, ‘Memorialisation’ 26 Nov, ‘Indigenising education’ 10 Dec and ‘Indigenous Architecture and Design Victorian Members Yarning Circle’ 21 Jan.
• MTalks: ‘Living closer together: Symposium’ 20 Oct – a day-long series of panel sessions exploring the intersection between the way we experience, design and plan for a lively equitable city, presented by Assemble Papers.
• MProject: Fixperts, a global, creative campaign that uses to design to help people with everyday problems will see student designers and their tutors engage with the local community to identify a person with a genuine problem with the potential for transformational impact through a design. 7 & 14 Nov, 21 Dec
• MRelay: ‘Abelism, Ageing and Architecture’ 10 Nov
• MRelay: ‘Wayfinding and Wellbeing’ 8 Dec 
• MMusic: ‘Friday Night Fiestas’ ongoing – open-air hangout with an eclectic set of DJ’s including Triple R’s Annaliese Redlich and Noise in My Head’s Michael Kucyk