Pritzker Prize winner Tadao Ando has revealed the design for MPavilion 10, a forthcoming meeting place in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens commissioned by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation.
Defined by the Japanese architect’s signature striking geometry and concrete materiality, the concept will be unveiled this summer as part of the 10th annual MPavilion festival, which attracts more than 350,000 people to the city’s cultural and botanical precinct each year.
“The design began with a desire to create a sense of eternity within Melbourne’s garden oasis,” Ando says. “I wanted to create an experience that will last forever in the hearts of all who visit. I imagine an architecture of emptiness, that lets light and breeze enter and breathe life into it. A place that resonates with the environment, becomes one with the garden, and blossoms with infinite creativity. MPavilion 10 is designed to encourage encounters between people, the natural world, and endless dialogue.”
Striving to embody a spatial purity, MPavilion 10 utilizes the geometry of circles and squares to create a structure that harmonizes with nature. A 47-foot disc clad with aluminum forms a large canopy as it rests upon a central concrete column, while a pair of offset squares make up the entrance. Concrete walls of varying lengths—reminiscent of traditional Japanese walled garden—enclose the space, complete with a half-paved, half-reflecting pool arrangement that further reinforces the symmetry at the heart of the concept. A horizontal opening spanning the length of the north and south walls will frame vistas of downtown Melbourne as well.
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