MPavilion is Australia’s leading architectural commission and design event conceived and created by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Every year a new temporary pavilion, designed by an outstanding international architect, is erected in Melbourne’s historic Queen Victoria Gardens. Over the summer, it hosts a dynamic program of free events including: lively talks, performances, workshops, installations and kid-friendly experiences

MPavilion’s cross-disciplinary program brings together local and international celebrated practitioners and theorists from across fields of architecture, performance, fashion, science, art, technology, music and more – to undertake new collaborations and participate in forward-thinking discussions around social and environmental change. At the end of each season the MPavilion is gifted to the people of Victoria and moved to a new permanent home, to continue to be engaged with by the community.

Since its conception in 2014, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation has chosen the architect for each pavilion on the strength of their international profile and the meaningful contributions they have made to the creative industries and the community at large. With the seventh iteration in the series, MPavilion 2021 – The Lightcatcher designed by Venetian architects Traudy Pelzel and Francesco Magnani of MAP studio.

The design brief for MPavilion 2021 was to create not only an architectural space, but a dynamic platform that actively engages with the urban landscape – a container of ideas incorporating the highest level of design thinking, innovation and experimentation and The Lightcatcher is a bright, vibrant, playful kaleidoscopic structure, which provides the perfect stage for MPavilion’s season.

Furniture: nüüd studio. Finishes: EPDM soft form rubber, Dulux, Avery Dennison.

Photography: Anthony Richardson (Image 1, 2), Casey Horsfield (Image 3, 4), John Gollings (Image 5)