MELBOURNE.- The Naomi Milgrom Foundation today announced that it has awarded Pritzker Prize-winner Tadao Ando with the commission for MPavilion 10 in Queen Victoria Gardens, located in the heart of Melbourne’s city centre. 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. Ando is the seventh leading international architect to have his first work in Australia commissioned by MPavilion, the country’s foremost annual architecture commission and design festival.

“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,” said Naomi Milgrom. “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 known for his striking geometric interventions in nature and his precise, assured use of concrete. 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). With this commission, Ando joins a roster of distinguished architects carefully curated by Naomi Milgrom to explore the intersection of design and contemporary culture.

“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.” Details of Ando’s design for MPavilion 10 will be revealed in May of this year, and it will open to the public on 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 programs 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 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.

Tadao Ando

Born 1941 in Osaka, Japan. Self-taught in architecture. Established Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in 1969. Major works include the Church of the Light, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and Chichu Art Museum. Awarded the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) Prize for the Row House in Sumiyoshi in 1979, Japan Art Academy Prize in 1993, Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995, Person of Cultural Merit (Japan) in 2003, International Union of Architects (UIA) Gold Medal in 2005, John F. Kennedy Center Gold Medal in the Arts in 2010, Shimpei Goto Award in 2010, Order of Culture (Japan) in 2010, Commander of the Order of Art and Letters (France) in 2013, Grand Officer of the Order of Merit (Italy) in 2015, and Isamu Noguchi Award in 2016. Held solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1991 and Centre Pompidou in 1993. Taught as a visiting professor at Yale University, Columbia University, and Harvard University. Professor at the University of Tokyo from 1997. Professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo since 2003.

The Naomi Milgrom Foundation is dedicated to bringing exceptional art, architecture, and design to the lives of Australians. Established in 2014 and led by Naomi Milgrom AC, the not-for-profit organisation pivots on a central purpose—to enhance the presence and influence of creative culture in Australia. This is accomplished through the active support of artists, designers and creative institutions, the fostering of collaborations between bodies and disciplines, the championing of art and design education, and an overarching commitment to making the arts more accessible to more people across the country. Driven by the conviction that art and design have the power to enrich the lives of individuals, nourish communities, boost economies, and improve the growth of cities, The Naomi Milgrom Foundation has become the gold standard for facilitating projects between public and private sectors.

MPavilion is Australia’s most important annual architectural commission and design event, conceived and created by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. A new pavilion, designed by a leading architect, is temporarily erected every year in Melbourne’s historic Queen Victoria Gardens. From November to March of each year, MPavilion engages people as a design and cultural laboratory, home to an extensive, free, daily program of talks, workshops, performances, and installations. 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. Past architects have included: Rachaporn Choochuey, all(zone), Thailand (2022); Francesco Magnani and Traudy Pelzel, MAP Studio, Venice (2021); Glenn Murcutt, Australia (2019); Carme Pinós, Estudio Carme Pinós, Barcelona (2018), Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten, OMA, Netherlands (2017); Bijoy Jain, Studio Mumbai, India (2016); Amanda Levete, AL_A, United Kingdom (2015); Sean Godsell, Sean Godsell Architects, Australia (2014).