MPavilion has awarded Pritzker Prize-winner Tadao Ando with the commission for MPavilion 10.
Over the past decade, MPavilion has worked with the world’s most significant architectural thinkers to create a space for engagement with urgent urban, civic, and design concerns. Tadao Ando will mark the seventh leading international architect to have their first work in Australia commissioned by MPavilion.
Naomi Milgrom AC, the founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, said about the commission:
“Each year, MPavilion commissions architects with a unique design language and social purpose and gives them complete freedom to realize their vision. I have long admired how Tadao Ando responds to and incorporates the particularity of a place into his design and his belief that architecture can shape a society. As the MPavilion prepares for the 10th edition, we look forward to sharing Ando’s work in Australia for the very first time and having his MPavilion become a vital site in the cultural and community life of Melbourne.”
One of Japan’s leading contemporary architects, Tadao Ando is a master of light known for his striking geometric interventions in nature.
Church of the Light. Photos by Mitsuo Matsuoka. Courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
Among his many notable works are the Church of the Light (1989; Osaka, Japan), Pulitzer Arts Foundation (2001; St. Louis, USA), Chichu Art Museum (2004; Naoshima, Japan), 21-21 Design Sight (2007; Tokyo, Japan), and Bourse de Commerce - Pinault Collection (2020: Paris, France). Chichu Art Museum / Naoshima. Photo by Mitsuo Matsuoka. Courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
Courtesy Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection. © Tadao Ando Architect & Associates. NeM / Niney et Marca Architectes, Agence Pierre-Antoine Gatier. Photo by Marc Domage
With this commission, Tadao Ando joins a roster of distinguished architects carefully curated by Naomi Milgrom AC to explore the intersection of design and contemporary culture.
Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Photo by Mitsuo Matsuoka. Courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
“The design for the MPavilion began with a desire to find a scene of eternity within the public gardens of the Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne,” shared architect Tadao Ando. “Eternal, not in material or structure, but in the memory of a landscape that will continue to live in people’s hearts.”
Born in 1941 in Osaka, Japan, Tadao Ando is a self-taught architect and established Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in 1969. Throughout his career, Ando has received many awards and accolades including the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995, the 8th Praemium Imperiale in 2016, and the 2002 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal.
He Art Museum, Foshan, China. © Tadao Ando Architect & Associates. Photo HEM
Ando also has an extensive career in architecture education. He taught as a visiting professor at Yale University, Columbia University, and Harvard University, and in 1997 became a Professor at the University of Tokyo.
Details of Tadao Ando’s design for MPavilion 10 will be revealed in May of this year, and open to the public in the Queen Victoria Gardens from 16 November 2023.
MPavilion serves as a cultural laboratory where the community can come together to experience, engage, and share. In 2023, the annual five-month festival of free public programmes will continue with talks and lectures, music performances, and kid-friendly workshops, among many other design-focused events. The 2023 themes, which will be informed by the concerns of Tadao Ando’s practice, will be announced in the months to come.
MPavilion 9, designed by all(zone). Image by John Gollings. Courtesy of MPavilion
MPavilion 9 by the Bangkok-based architecture and design practice all(zone) is currently open to the public through 6 April 2023. Design director of all(zone) Rachaporn Choochuey said: “The MPavilion project is one of the only design commissions in the world that gives architects the freedom to really experiment and take risks to create extraordinary work.”
MPavilion is an annual initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and is supported by the City of Melbourne and the Victorian State Government through Creative Victoria. The first nine MPavilions have welcomed more than 900,000 visitors and hosted more than 3,500 free events since its establishment in 2014. At the end of each MPavilion season, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation gifts the pavilion to the people of Victoria and relocates it to a new, permanent, public home in the community.
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Cover photo: Tadao Ando by Kinji Kanno, courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associate
Press release courtesy MPavilion
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