The Naomi Milgrom Foundation has selected 1995 Pritzker Prize Laureate Tadao Ando to design the tenth MPavilion, which will be installed in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens.
“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.
Ando’s work is defined by his use of reinforced concrete and and unique plays with light. His most notable projects include the Church of Light in Osaka, 21 21 Design Sight in Tokyo, and the Benesse Art Site in Naoshima.
Church of Light
Image: Courtesy Tadao Ando Architect and Associates
Ando is the third Pritzker Prize Laureate to be commissioned for the pavilion. The first was Rem Koolhaas (2017, with David Gianotten) and Australia’s Glenn Murcutt, who was commissioned for the 2019 installation.
“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,” Ando said.
“Eternal, not in material or structure, but in the memory of a landscape that will continue to live in people’s hearts.”
Ando’s design will be unveiled in May 2023, and the pavilion is slated to open to the public on 16 November 2023.
The pavilion will be accompanied by a five-month-long program of talks, lectures, workshops and design-focused events.
The ninth MPavilion, designed by Thai practice Allzone, will close on 6 April 2023.
