Tadao Ando, Pritzker Prize-Winning Architect, Selected for 10th MPavilion
We’re incredibly excited to share the news that MPavilion has awarded Pritzker Prize-winner Tadao Ando with the commission for MPavilion 10!
Over the past decade, MPavilion has worked with the world’s most significant architectural thinkers to create a space for engagement with urgent urban, civic, and design concerns. Tadao Ando will mark the seventh leading international architect to have their first work in Australia commissioned by MPavilion.
Naomi Milgrom AC, the founder of the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, said about the commission:
“Each year, MPavilion commissions architects with a unique design language and social purpose and gives them complete freedom to realize their vision. I have long admired how Tadao Ando responds to and incorporates the particularity of a place into his design and his belief that architecture can shape a society. As the MPavilion prepares for the 10th edition, we look forward to sharing Ando’s work in Australia for the very first time and having his MPavilion become a vital site in the cultural and community life of Melbourne.”
One of Japan’s leading contemporary architects, Tadao Ando is a master of light known for his striking geometric interventions in nature.
Among his many notable works are the Church of the Light (1989; Osaka, Japan), Pulitzer Arts Foundation (2001; St. Louis, USA), Chichu Art Museum (2004; Naoshima, Japan), 21-21 Design Sight (2007; Tokyo, Japan), and Bourse de Commerce—Pinault Collection (2020: Paris, France). With this commission, Tadao Ando joins a roster of distinguished architects carefully curated by Naomi Milgrom AC to explore the intersection of design and contemporary culture.
Church of the Light. Photos by Mitsuo Matsuoka. Courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
“The design for the MPavilion began with a desire to find a scene of eternity within the public gardens of the Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne,” shared architect Tadao Ando. “Eternal, not in material or structure, but in the memory of a landscape that will continue to live in people’s hearts.”
Pulitzer Arts Foundation. Photo by Mitsuo Matsuoka. Courtesy Tadao Ando Architect & Associates
Born in 1941 in Osaka, Japan, Tadao Ando is a self-taught architect and established Tadao Ando Architect & Associates in 1969. Throughout his career, Ando has received many awards and accolades including the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995, the 8th Praemium Imperiale in 29916, and the 2002 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal.
Ando also has an extensive career in architecture education. He taught as a visiting professor at Yale University, Columbia University, and Harvard University, and in 1997 became a Professor at the University of Tokyo.
Details of Tadao Ando’s design for MPavilion 10 will be revealed in May of this year, and open to the public in the Queen Victoria Gardens from 16 November 2023.
