MPavilion will take residency in an architecturally significant car park in central Melbourne in January 2021.
Parkade Carpark at 34 Little Collins Street was designed by Melbourne architect Peter McIntyre of Mclntyre Partnerships and built in the 1960s. In January 2021, it will be transformed into a “highly-accessible cultural destination,” hosting events, workshops, and performances seven days a week.
The Naomi Milgrom Foundation, which puts on the MPavilion in collaboration with the City of Melbourne and Creative Victoria, said in a statement that the adaptive re-use of the carpark spoke to the broader conservational message of the program, which has been curated under the theme “Preservation: Propagating Knowledge.”
“MPavilion’s thoughtful adaptation of Parkade car park honours the site as an important part of Melbourne’s architectural history while giving it new life and significance,” said Naomi Milgrom. “With this bold reimagining of such a central space, MPavilion demonstrates the possibilities that pre-existing sites can offer Melburnians as we reanimate the city post-COVID.”
A sign for the carpark.
Image: Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection
Parkade architect Peter McIntyre said he was delighted by the car park would be used in this way. “It’s a useful thing to do with it because cars are on their way out. In the end, looking back on it, it is a true modernist building,” he said. “It followed those very early principles of modernism in that it was clearly functional, no-frills, no decoration, in some senses, very brutal.”
Beginning on 8 January, the MPavilion program will encompass events that look to Indigenous knowledge and practices, the generation of adaptive spaces, communing with nature, and the embracing of radical new design approaches.
There will be architectural film screenings curated by architect and filmmaker Toby Reed, a discussion about tapestry and architecture with architects Peter Williams and Amy Muir and Australian Tapestry Workshop director Antonia Syme, and the return of Blakitecture, a series of talks and events on Indigenous architecture.
The socially distanced MPavilion stool design by Holly Board and Peter Grove.
Interior designer and architect partners Holly Board and Peter Grove are designing stools for the in-person events that encourage appropriate social distancing.
The re-use of the car park for the Mpavilion echoes some of the questions raised by Bates Smart’s MPavilion event A Treasure Trove Of Space: Rethinking Melbourne’s Car Parks For Future Use, held this November. Bates Smart’s provocation – the radical re-imagining of what car parks in Melbourne can be used for – is shortlisted in the 2021 AA Prize for Unbuilt Work.
Melbourne mayor Sally Capp said the January program would be an important step in encouraging more activity in the city. “MPavilion Parkade will be a major drawcard while showcasing the famous creativity of our city,” she said.
