Preserve the Pavilion is a community-led, independent initiative supporting efforts to retain MPavilion 10 at Queen Victoria Gardens.

Designed by Tadao Ando. Constructed in Melbourne, Australia 2023.
The future of the pavilion remains undecided.

The tenth edition of the MPavilion opened in the Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne on November 16, 2023. The structure was designed by Pritzker Prize Laureate Tadao Ando. It is his first - and only - built work in Australia.

“I wanted to create an experience that will last forever in the hearts of all who visit… I imagined an architecture of emptiness that lets light and breeze enter and breathe life into it. A place that resonates with the environment, becomes one with the garden and blossoms with infinite creativity.”

- Tadao Ando

MPavilion is an ongoing initiative of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, supported by the City of Melbourne and State Government of Victoria, through Creative Victoria.

In the spirit of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation’s philanthropic vision, MPavilion 10 has been offered as a gift to the City of Melbourne.

The future of the pavilion at Queen Victoria Gardens is currently under consideration.

Due to the concrete construction of the pavilion, it is not possible for Tadao Ando’s MPavilion 10 to be relocated. To remove it from the site will result in the demolition of the structure.

To extend the life of the pavilion, public support is needed. We invite you to consider adding your name to the open letter of support.

In a world of fast-paced consumerism, how do we assign the value of something?

Is it only in its utility or economic return? Or might it also reside in stillness, contemplation, and the quiet resonance of form and space?

Tadao Ando’s MPavilion - his first and only built work in Australia - was never conceived as a monument. It does not demand attention. Instead, it stands as a meditation on geometry, light, and material. A concrete structure, cut through by a void, framing the world beyond. It asks for almost nothing in return - only that we slow down, linger, and perhaps - look inward.

Photographed by Pier Carthew, this series documents the MPavilion in its dormant state - caught in a moment of stillness between use and uncertainty. This modest structure, realised with extraordinary precision and intention, is now at risk of being lost to time, dismantled barely two years after its completion.

While the MPavilion program was always temporal by design, this pavilion represents something more: a dialogue between the people of Melbourne and one of the most influential architects of our time. A space for discourse and the coming together of people, in the cultural context of increasing polarity. It situates the city - however briefly - within the broader continuum of architectural thought and culture. To erase it would be to cut short a conversation barely begun.

The movement to preserve MPavilion 10 is a call for reflection: on how we assign value, on how we care for our cultural artefacts, and on what it means to sustain - not just environmentally, but intellectually, emotionally, spatially.

To allow this building to quietly disappear, without pause or protest, would be a loss - not only for the city of Melbourne, but for the international architectural community.

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Below is a summary of those in support of preserving MPavilion 10 designed by 1995 Pritzker Prize Laureate Tadao Ando.

Álvaro Siza
Álvaro Siza Viera Portugal
1992 Pritzker Prize Laureate

Jean Nouvel
Ateliers Jean Nouvel
2008 Pritzker Prize Laureate

Kengo Kuma
Kengo Kuma and Associates

John Pawson CBE
John Pawson London

Manuel Aires Mateus
Aires Mateus Lisbon

Alberto Campo Baeza
Alberto Campo Baeza Madrid

Patrik Schumacher
Principal - Zaha Hadid Architects

David Gianotten
Managing Partner – OMA
MPavilion 2017

Rachaporn Choochuey
Design Director - All(zone)
MPavilion 2022

Vincent Van Duysen
Vincent Van Duysen Belgium

Dominique Perrault
Dominique Perrault Architecture

John Denton
Denton Corker Marshall
1996 AIA Gold Medal Recipient

Peter Stutchbury
Peter Stutchbury Architecture
2015 AIA Gold Medal Recipient

Jasmine Placentino
PARABOLICA
Organiser - Preserve the Pavilion

Pier Carthew
Photographer
MPavilion 10

Peter Maddison
Maddison Architects
& Grand Designs Australia

Scott Burchell
COMB Construction
Builder - MPavilion 10

Hilary Fox
Steelfox
Concrete - MPavilion 10

Norman Day
Norman Day + Associates

John Gollings
Photographer

Rodney Eggleston
Founding Director - March Studio

Gilad Ritz + Jean-Paul Ghougassian
Ritz & Ghougassian

Clare Kennedy
Director - Five Mile Radius

Benjamin Pitman
PARABOLICA / Studio Nine Architects

Jack Lovel
Photographer

Elizabeth Schiavello
Photographer

Tim Sutherland
Founder + Creative Director - Studio Brave

Chris Connell
Chris Connell Design

Dino Vrynios + Sara Horstmann
DAS Studio

Chris Watkins
Director - Baukulter

Tom Robertson
Tom Robertson Architects

Scott Eldridge + Jeremy Anderson
Eldridge Anderson

Jeff Provan
Director - Neometro

Sue Carr
Founding Principal - Carr

Michael Bialek
Founding Director - SJB

Susi Leeton
Susi Leeton Architecture + Interiors

Robert Davidov
Davidov Architects

Dave Bickmore + Graham Charbonneau
Studio Gram

Fabio Ongarato
Studio Ongarato

Andrew Steele
Managing Director - Studio Nine Architects

Albert Mo
Albert Mo Architects