MPavilion 2021 - The Lightcatcher

MPavilion is Australia’s leading architectural commission, created by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Annually, a temporary pavilion designed by an esteemed architect, is erected in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens. Over the summer, it hosts a program of free events, performances and installations to encourage design debate and cultural exchange.

MPavilion 2021 was designed by MAP studio (Venice) architects Francesco Magnani & Traudy Pelzel. MAP studio imagined MPavilion 2021 as a shimmering device, a form of urban lighthouse intended to illuminate MPavilion’s diverse, varied and inclusive programming. Dubbed the Lightcatcher, the pavilion’s geometric abstraction and kaleidoscopic structure reflected and amplified the ever-changing landscape, colour, activities and people surrounding it. Its design comprises a three-dimensional lattice made of galvanized steel tubular profiles, which house mirror-finish aluminium panels. U-shaped concrete pillars support the lattice structure which appears to float above the bright, yellow surface and circular kiosk below. MAP studio is renowned for responding to existing sites in a sensitive and celebratory way, and this approach was especially poignant with MPavilion 2021. Throughout the 5-month season, The Lightcatcher truly reenergized and reinvigorated Melbourne’s creative and cultural life. With its playful design, vibrant colour palette and iridescent quality MPavilion 2021 stood as a beacon of joy and renewed hope, evoking a sense delight among all who crossed its path.