(All)zone's MPavilion Opens in Melbourne

Last week's opening comes six months after (all)zone was selected to design this summer's iteration of the temporary MPavilion and four months after images of their design — a colorful fabric and net canopy — were revealed. The selection of the Bangkok firm led by Rachaporn Choochuey and the opening of their MPavilion coincide with the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Thai-Australian diplomatic relations. Festivities around that anniversary were held at the MPavilion the weekend after the December 8 opening, focused on "champion[ing] Thai architecture, design, art and culture in collaboration with the Royal Thai Embassy and the Thai Australian Chamber," per a statement from the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, which launched MPavilion in 2014.

Like most of the seven preceding pavilions* built in Queen Victoria Gardens, (all)zone's design focuses on the roof as a means of providing shelter but also as a design statement. The canopy is made of three layers: fishing nets at the outermost layer; an intermediate STFE membrane supplied by French manufacturer Serge Ferrari (the company also supplied the fabric for Glenn Murcutt's tensile canopy in 2019); and a bottom layer that features "a waffle of colored fabric that moves with the breeze and filters light." The Foundation's statement also indicates that the middle layer is notably the first time STFE technology has been used in Australia. As seen in the photographs here, the lighting design carried out by Bluebottle greatly impacts the coloring of the canopy and the presence of the pavilion in the park.

*Although (all)zone's contribution is billed as the ninth MPavilion, that numbering includes the 2020 iteration held in the midst of the pandemic, when events took place in a downtown Melbourne parking garage and therefore a pavilion was not built. The preceding MPavilions were designed by MAP Studio (2021), Glenn Murcutt (2019), Carme Pinós (2018), OMA partners Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten (2017), Bijoy Jain (2016), Amanda Levete (2015) and Sean Godsell (2014).