At its core, this year’s MPavilion design offers a striking canopy to house the public life of the city. But what does it mean to come together ‘Under One Roof’? In November and December, the program will explore diverse forms of shared experience and connection in our cities, from intergenerational living to artist collectives, and from community kitchens to landscapes for inter-species coexistence. This theme will also explore how a greater sense of togetherness could shape the way we engage with each other at a societal level.  How can a shift in decision making, greater accountability and a reframing of ‘care’ make the world a better place?

Material use has formed the backbone of human culture. Yet our relationship to materials also lies at the heart of the environmental and planetary impacts that define the Anthropocene. Taking inspiration from the way this year’s MPavilion design repurposes everyday and cutting-edge materials, the January and February program will transform the MPavilion into a ‘Material Lab’. How can we learn to let go of unsustainable materials? What old materials are worth revisiting? Can new thinking around material flows and circular systems reshape our cities and industries? And what leads us to glorify certain materials?     

This theme explores 50 different materials that individual events will respond to. These include—air, aluminium, bamboo, bone, brass, carbon, chalk, clay, coal, coconut, concrete, copper, cork, cotton, feathers, fibreglass, funghi, glass, gold, granite, grass, hair, hemp, lithium, marble, nylon, ochre, palm, paper, pearl, plastic, polyethyhene, polysterene, resin, rope, rubber, sand, seaweed, shell, silk, silver, soil, steel, stone, straw, timber, water, wool, iron and brick—or any other material we have not listed.

See the full list of materials here.