Architects push to preserve Ando

The future of the concrete-walled MPavilion 10, designed by Japanese architect and 1995 Pritzker Prize laureate Tadao Ando and executed by Australian Sean Godsell, remains unclear. A community-led "Preserve the Pavilion" campaign advocating for the temporary pavilion to remain in Melbourne's Queen Victoria Gardens beyond its slated removal at the end of June 2025 has received over 2,000 signatures, including those of Pritzker Prize laureates and acclaimed Australian and international architects.

An initiative of the Naomi Milgrim Foundation (NMF) with support from the City of Melbourne and Victorian government, the annual MPavilion is described by the foundation as "Australia's leading design commission." Each year, the foundation tasks "an outstanding architect to design a temporary pavilion," which, following its five-month summer program, is "gifted to the state of Victoria," the foundation notes.

The Ando-designed tenth iteration of the pavilion opened in November 2023 and has remained beyond the program's customary summer period thanks to a City of Melbourne approval that extended its life until 30 June 2025. The April 2024 motion, put forward by the NMF to the Future Melbourne Committee, received unanimous support from council members.

"It's the only piece of [Ando's] architecture that's in Australia, so that in itself is remarkable and deserving of extension of its presence in our city," then-lord mayor Sally Capp commented at the time.

Now, as the extended removal date approaches, the initiative Preserve the Pavilion is calling for Ando's work to remain in Queen Victoria Gardens. The group's website claims that the pavilion's concrete construction means it "is not possible" for it to be relocated, and that removal will "result in the demolition of the structure."

The initiative's open letter has gained support from Pritzker Prize winning architects Álvaro Siza (1992 laureate), Jean Nouvel (2008 laureate), Eduardo Souto de Moura (2011 laureate), and Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA (2010 laureates), as well internationally acclaimed architects John Pawson, Kengo Kuma, Manuel Aires Mateus and Patrik Schumacher, among others.

In a personal letter of support, Siza commented, "As it happens with all projects by Tadao Ando, this project shows a quality that cannot be erased."

MPavilion comissioner Naomi Milgrom also supports retaining the pavilion. "In keeping with the project's decade-long legacy - and as Tadao Ando's only work in the Southern Hemisphere - we hope this pavilion can remain for an extended period as a gift to all Melburnians," she said.

Architects of past MPavilions David Gianotten of OMA (MPavilion 4, 2017) and Rachaporn Choochuey of All Zone (MPavilion 9, 2022), as well as Australian Institute of Architects gold medallists Peter Stutchbury and John Denton, have signed the campaign's open letter. A communique from the campaign's organisers also notes that the NMF has received many letters in support of the pavilion remaining in place for longer, including from Institute CEO Cameron Bruhn, and current Victorian chapter president and national president-elect David Wagner.

Questions remain about whether the current site will be found appropriate for the pavilion, which was intended to be disassembled and relocated to a permanent home. Despite recommending support for the pavilion's extension at the time of the 2024 approval, a report by City of Melbourne general manager of infrastructure and amenity Rick Kwasek raised concerns around the safety, security, maintenance and accessibility of the building. It noted that the design is not consistent with best-practice gender equity place principles, that it is susceptible to graffiti, and that the walled nature of the pavilion "precludes through views and movements across the site," presenting "potential risks to the structure [and] public safety."

It also claimed that Queen Victoria Gardens is "a fragile environment, not designed to accommodate permanent structures and regular activation for events or large gatherings" and that granting "the extension could be viewed as opening the door for further advocacy on permanent retention." Despite this, it was noted at the Future Melbourne Committee's approval meeting that the "NMF have confirmed that the request applies to one year only."

The NMF, which is accountable for the dismantling and repurposing of the pavilion at the end of its life, has also been responsible for the maintenance and security of the pavilion during the one-year extension.

Architectural critic Paul Walker's December 2023 review of the pavilion for ArchitectureAu expressed some doubts about the project's eco-credibility. He observed that "at the press launch of the new pavilion, when asked about this issue [of sustainability], Godsell reasonably responded that the concrete used in the building was as 'green' as could be." On the issue of recycalbility, Walker pointed out that the walls "could be crushed to be used as aggregate in … more concrete."

The City of Melbourne is set to convene to decide the pavilion's future, though the date of the meeting is yet to be confirmed.

The open letter can be accessed online.