The Naomi Milgrom Foundation and City of Melbourne have jointly announced they will be extending the run of Tadao Ando’s new MPavilion commission at Queen Victoria Gardens for another full year until March of 2025.

"We’ve been thrilled to see visitors of all ages and from far and wide flock to MPavilion, curious to experience what Tadao Ando, an extraordinary master of design, has created for Melbourne. Being in the pavilion, looking across water and out to the green of the surrounding parklands has an immediate and unique calming effect, a slowing down amidst the fast pace of contemporary life," the foundation’s founder Naomi Milgrom said.

"The pavilion has seen myriad curated and informal activities this last summer, from pilates and picnics to drawing, photography and more. Engaging in great architecture and design enriches our city and our lives, and this extended partnership with the City of Melbourne means even more of the community can now enjoy these moments for another year," she added.

Ando’s first Australian design was realized last November as the tenth overall contribution to the program. He described it as an "expression of human reason and the pursuit of ethereal space" surrounding a garden that "blossoms into a microcosmos of infinite creativity" at its opening. Since that time, the pavilion has played host to more than 100 community events based around three themes inspired by his architecture (Memories of Place, Craftsmanship, A Blank Canvas), including the BLAKitecture forum and a special culinary pop-up from Brazilian artist João Loureiro.

"The news of MPavilion’s extended stay in Melbourne brings me immense joy. Naomi Milgrom and I share the belief that architecture must contribute to public life," Ando said. "My hope is for MPavilion to not only spark conversations and new interactions but to become a lasting part of Melbourne’s community, a new place in the urban landscape that resonates with the environment and encourages encounters between people and the natural world."

Ando also inaugurated the new ‘Space of Light’ pavilion last year in South Korea. 

Expressions of interest for the 2024/2025 MPavilion program will be opened in July.