Two months after the opening of the 2017 MPavilion in Melbourne, its designers, OMA’s Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten, have returned to discuss the commission and design process, as well as their reactions to its use thus far.
“The opening was an opening with many formal obligations and many excellencies, and that was exciting,” said Koolhaas about the pavilions opening events. “But frankly more exciting was this morning, when the thing performed really wonderfully spontaneously in terms of raising a lot of issues and having from the very first second a really animated discussion about a whole range of issues. And that’s exactly we intended it go.”
The MPavilion also announced a series of temporary installation that will take over the pavilion over the coming months, including a family-oriented design by OMA. Titled ‘Swings,’ OMA’s installation will add 9 suspended seats to the center of the MPavilion, allowing visitors to interact with the structure in a new way. The swings will also be lit in the evening, giving the pavilion a new glow after dusk.
The installation “draws from historical example to both recontextualise and reinvigorate the individual and communal joy of childhood play,” explains MPavilion.
“Deriving inspiration from ancient artefact, contemporary mainstays and nostalgic examples from cinema and popular culture, ‘Swings by OMA’ — harnesses movement, irreverence and a sense of play to activate MPavilion 2017 as a locus for multidimensional and multisensorial experiences, where surprising juxtapositions engender potent connections and conversations.”
‘Swings’ will be on display from December 23 to January 5.
Following OMA’s installation will be ‘Foamy feeling,’ a set of site-specific furniture pieces designed by London-based contemporary design duo Soft Baroque. Inspired by the pavilion design, the furniture will be made from a series of air-tight membranes filled with soft polyurethane expanding foam. These pieces will adorn the stairs of the pavilion from January 15 to January 21.
The final installation, by creative practice Tin&Ed, is ‘Inflatable Future.” According to MPavilion, these inflatable sculptures “combine the joy of bouncy castles with aesthetically beguiling sculptural works, encouraging kids to leap into the unknown and use play as a way to engage with ideas of space, technology and the future.” ‘Inflatable Future’ will run from January 8 until February 4.
News via MPavilion
2017 MPavilion Designed by OMA's Rem Koolhaas & David Gianotten Opens in Melbourne
The 2017 MPavilion, designed by Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of OMA, has opened to the public in Melbourne 's Queen Victoria Gardens. Inspired by the design of ancient amphitheatres and embedded into a raised landscape of native plantings, the project represents OMA's first-ever completed project in Australia.
