Second MPavilion comes to Monash

16 August 2024

Great things happen when people come together. Wander through the Peninsula campus and you’ll notice a new and wonderful place to meet. It’s a structure designed to be beautiful – but, also, eminently approachable. It’s a place for people to talk, to sit and dream, to spark ideas. Welcome to the Peninsula MPavilion.

The MPavilion initiative is Australia’s leading architecture commission, conceived and created by Monash alumna, and member of our donor community, Naomi Milgrom AC. Every year, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation invites extraordinary architects from Australia and across the world to celebrate the intersection of architecture, art and design with a meeting place for the Queen Victoria Gardens in the heart of Melbourne.

MPavilion Peninsula, Monash University Peninsula Campus

Designed for collaboration

Each new MPavilion launches a five-month design festival of free events, prompting locals and visitors alike to consider how architecture, art and design can change lives. When its season ends, the structure is relocated to a permanent home in the community where it can remain as a catalyst for conversation. This is the second MPavilion generously gifted to Monash University by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation – the first, designed by Rem Koolhaas, has been at Monash’s Clayton campus since 2018.

And that makes sense because Monash is the perfect place for a structure designed for collaboration. “Architects and designers bring people together, creating spaces for us to come together and share the experience of working, conversations, performance or just being,” says Governor of Victoria and former Monash Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC. “They build centres of learning where beliefs and opinions are shared. Monash Art, Design and Architecture, the Sir Zelman Cowen School of Music and Performance, and Monash’s public lectures are just a few examples of how the University generates a sense of community through the creative arts.”

MPavilion Peninsula, Monash University Peninsula Campus

Cultural focal point

The MPavilion is a work of art in itself, designed by internationally renowned Spanish architect Ms Carme Pinós. Inspired by the ancient art of origami, Pinós designed the Pavilion’s structure with distinct triangular panels and timber lattice framework within a solid metal frame. It’s a perfect illustration of the Foundation’s conviction that exceptional design doesn’t need to be understood to be felt – and its commitment to create collective moments that deepen engagement and appreciation of design, architecture and art in our everyday lives.

The structure will also have a practical use, serving as an inclusive gathering point for students, staff and the local community, says Professor Susan Elliott AM, Monash University Provost and Senior Vice-President. “The University is committed to Naomi Milgrom's original vision of using MPavilions as a hub for community-led art, design and collaboration. We look forward to seeing the MPavilion by Carme Pinós become a community cultural focal point on the Peninsula, fostering connections between culture, nature and architectural design.”

Architect Carme Pinós at the MPavilion Peninsula official opening

Collective creativity

And the work sparked by the MPavilion will continue to resonate. Milgrom herself says she’s looking forward to seeing how the themes presented at the original opening of the MPavilion back in 2018 will be picked up by Monash: collective creativity, humanist architecture, community, gender and social equality. “These themes remain highly relevant today and ones that I am sure will be further researched and explored in a myriad of ways by the Monash community.”

Students, staff, alumni, student association and club members, and the general public are all welcome to book the new Peninsula campus MPavilion and the existing Clayton campus MPavilion using this online booking form.