The Naomi Milgrom Foundation, a Melbourne, Australia–based nonprofit that supports public architecture and design projects, announced today that it has commissioned Australian architect Glenn Murcutt, Hon. FAIA, to design the sixth annual MPavilion. The news follows the closing of the MPavilion 2018, designed by Spanish architect Carme Pinós, Hon. FAIA—which housed 520 free events and attracted more than 133,000 visitors. The MPavilion 2019 is expected to open to the public on Nov. 12.
“I’m thrilled to be working with Glenn Murcutt," said founder Naomi Milgrom in a press release. “He’s been at the forefront of contemporary architecture for decades with groundbreaking designs that are sensitive to landscape and cross-cultural collaboration.”
“It’s extraordinary what Naomi has achieved with MPavilion,” Murcutt said in the same release. “She’s one of the great people in this country for supporting the arts, and more than just art but architecture, with a special understanding of city life. MPavilion is an interesting and assiduous project, and I’m honored to be commissioned.”
Murcutt is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Alvar Aalto Medal (1992), the Royal Australian Institute of Architects' (1992) and The American Institute of Architects' (2009) Gold Medals, the Richard Neutra Award for Teaching (1998), the Thomas Jefferson Medal for Architecture (2001), the Pritzker Architecture Prize (2002), and the Kenneth F. Brown Asia Pacific Culture and Architecture Award (2003). He is known for the design of many iconic structures in Australia, including the Australian Islamic Centre in Melbourne (designed with Australian architect Hakan Elevli); the Arthur and Yvonne Boyd Education Centre in Shoalhaven, New South Wales (designed with architects Wendy Lewin and Reg Lark); the Simpson-Lee House in NSW; the Marie Short House in Kempsey, NSW; the Magney House in Bingie Point, NSW; and the Marika-Alderton House in East Arnhem Land.
Each year since 2014, the foundation has commissioned an international architect to design a temporary pavilion for Melbourne's historic Queen Victoria Gardens. The last five MPavilions were created by Australian firm Sean Godsell Architects in 2014; Amanda Levete of London-based architecture studio AL_A in 2015; Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai in 2016; Rem Koolhaas, Hon. FAIA, and David Gianotten of OMA in 2017; and Pinós last year.
