DELVE INTO THE TRAJECTORY OF MPAVILION, AN ANNUAL PROJECT THAT INVITES RENOWNED ARCHITECTS TO DESIGN A PAVILION (AS SIMILAR AS THE SERPENTINE PAVILION IN LONDON) THROUGH THE COMPILATION OF DOCUMENTATION AND REFLECTIONS OF THE PROJECT
TEXT: MONGKON PONGANUTREE
PHOTO: KETSIREE WONGWAN
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MPavilion
Thames & Hudson Australia, 2020
8.27 x 0.91 x 11.81 inches
260 pages
ISBN 978-1760760564
“Even with the most modest of architecture projects, you are changing the world.” Rem Koolhaas
Many may not have heard of or known about MPavilion before. If you’re familiar with London’s famous Serpentine Pavilion, MPavilion is similar but is more or less the Australian version. Launched by the vision and support of Australian businesswoman and philanthropist Naomi Milgrom, the Pavilion has collaborated with renowned architects each year since 2014 with the idea of making the Pavilion ‘a container of many ideas’. It acts as a homogenous space where design and culture are interconnected for the city of Melbourne.
Centered around the six pavilion projects to date, by architects Sean Godsell, Amanda Levete, Bijoy Jain, Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten, Carme Pinós, and Glenn Murcutt respectively, this book reflects on the projects’ ongoing architectural and cultural impacts before dropping a period last year due to the outbreak of COVID-19. In addition to the history, the book incorporates architectural drawings, renders, models and design statements, as well as essays by design writers and photographs documenting each project and the activities that it inspired. Not only that but it also considers how each architect responds to or highlights issues relevant to contemporary design, architecture and community building.
What is also interesting about this book is its design by Melbourne-based Studio Ongarato who designed the brand identity and graphic identity for the pavilion each season in response to the architect and the pavilion. The design of the book draws on the Pavilion’s brand identity, typeface, and language with their signature coral color, which is a unifying motif across the fore edge of the book and throughout.
Perhaps the difference between the Serpentine Pavilion and MPavilion is the latter has shaped and blended the project to the taste of the Australian people – packed with more activities, more liveliness, and a more friendly vibe. It is not just about the architect and architecture but it’s also a culturally active, public community for people to enjoy.
mpavilion.org
naomimilgromfoundation.org
thamesandhudson.com.au