Bijoy Jain's MPavilion Opens in Melbourne

John Hill

5. October 2016

Photo: John Gollings (All photographs courtesy of MPavilion)

The third MPavilion, commissioned by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation and designed by Indian architect Bijoy Jain, began its four-month run today in Melbourne's Queen Victoria Gardens.

Jain was selected to design the latest MPavilion in February, when Amanda Levete's iteration was taken down (it's been re-erected since in Melbourne's Docklands City Park). MPavilion started in 2014 with a design by Australia's own Sean Godsell.

Jain's bamboo construction contrasts with the hi-tech nature of Levete's and Godsell's creations. The handmade building uses 7 kilometers of bamboo, 50 tons of stone, and 26 kilometers of rope to create the 16.8-meter square summer pavilion that sits on a bluestone floor. The bamboo poles were imported from India and secured to each other with the rope and 5,000 wooden pins. Karvi plant woven together by craftspeople in India comprises the slatted roof panels.

Visible in the aerial at top and the interior view below is a square opening in the roof that Jain sees, per a statement, "as connecting earth to sky." Below it sits a golden well "symbolizing the importance of water to place and community."

More than a folly in the park, MPavilion will play host to more than 400 talks, workshops, performances and installations from 5 October 2016 to 18 February 2017. All events are free and open to the public.