An installation created by award-winning Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai for Mpavilion 2016 will be gifted to the Melbourne Zoo.
Naomi Milgrom AO, Founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation said that Bijoy Jain’s Mpavilion 2016 has been gifted to the people of Melbourne and will be relocated from its temporary site at the Queen Victoria Gardens to its new home at the Melbourne Zoo in Parkville. The relocation is underway with assistance from the City of Melbourne, Naomi Milgrom Foundation and Kane Constructions.
Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the third Mpavilion would provide a lasting cultural legacy for Melbourne. According to the Lord Mayor, an interesting facet of each Mpavilion is the site of its new home once its time in the Queen Victoria Gardens is complete. He added that they couldn’t have found a more fitting home for Bijoy Jain’s Mpavilion than the zoo, given its structure and shape.
The Mpavilion will be incorporated into new landscaping in existing open space just off the Main Drive between the heritage carousel and the Japanese Garden.
Describing the Mpavilion by Bijoy Jain as a spectacular architectural structure that will complement the zoo’s natural environment, Melbourne Zoo Director Kevin Tanner said they welcome Mpavilion’s use of natural and sustainable materials as it fit perfectly with their conservation ethic and environmentally sustainable practices. The Melbourne Zoo is one of the first carbon neutral zoos in the world.
He added that Mpavilion will become a popular gathering space for visitors during their 155th anniversary year.
The program of talks, workshops and performances created for Mpavilion 2016 in collaboration with more than 350 arts organisations, designers and architects from Melbourne and around the globe concluded in the Queen Victoria Gardens on 18 February 2017. Over four months, 94,000 people attended 487 free events in the temporary pavilion.
The Mpavilion has become Australia’s leading architecture commission and design event initiated by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation with support from the City of Melbourne, and the Victorian State Government through Creative Victoria and ANZ.
As part of the foundation’s ‘Architecture in the City’ strategy, each Mpavilion is gifted to the city: Mpavilion 2014, designed by Australian architect Sean Godsell, permanently resides in the gardens of the Hellenic Museum. Mpavilion 2015, designed by British architect Amanda Levete of AL_A, is located at a park on Collins Street, Docklands. The commission for Mpavilion 2017 has been awarded to Netherlands-based OMA and will be designed by Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten.
