The Naomi Milgrom Foundation has announced its highly acclaimed architecture commission and design program, MPavilion, will be extended for a further two years until 2019.

The announcement comes amid the lead-up to the unveiling of the fourth MPavilion (designed by Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of OMA), and is the result of a unanimous decision by principal partners in MPavilion’s public–private partnership: the City of Melbourne, the Victorian State Government through Creative Victoria, ANZ and the Naomi Milgrom Foundation.

The decision is testament to the success of the collaboration, which for the past three years has seen more than 230,000 visitors each season to MPavilion’s free public program intended to encourage debate about the role of design in improving the way Australians live and Melbourne’s rich cultural vitality.

In its first three seasons (2014–16), MPavilion collaborated with over 560 project partners to hold more than 1100 free events, including workshops and talks concerning urban planning, arts, architecture, design, science and contemporary culture.

“The interest and buzz that MPavilion creates in the Queen Victoria Gardens every season is infectious,” says Lord Mayor Robert Doyle.

MPavilion is globally recognised as Australia’s leading architectural commission and design event, and in 2015 it won the Australian Institute of Architects’ Victorian Architecture Award for Small Project Architecture.

Naomi Milgrom AO, founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, says, “When we started MPavilion in 2014, I could never have imagined how it would inspire and enthuse so many people. I am overwhelmed by the way MPavilion has become such an important part of Melbourne’s cultural life, and by the huge support we have received from the public, the design community, universities, arts organisations, and our wonderful corporate and philanthropic partners.”

“MPavilion is an extraordinary public–private partnership, and it is an honour to be able to extend the project for another two years.”

Each MPavilion is gifted to the people of Melbourne by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and rebuilt in a permanent location, thanks to support from the City of Melbourne. MPavilion 2014, designed by Sean Godsell (AUS), now stands in the gardens of the Hellenic Museum; MPavilion 2015, designed by Amanda Levete of AL_A (GBR), resides in Docklands Park; and MPavilion 2016, designed by Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai (IND), is in the process of being relocated to the Melbourne Zoo with the assistance of Kane Constructions.

Lead render courtesy OMA.

http://mpavilion.org/

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Check out the design for this year’s upcoming MPavilion by Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of OMA.