We are elated to announce the Naomi Milgrom Foundation‘s gift of all 10 MPavilion Chair Commissions to the Powerhouse Collection. The Chairs will be permanently housed at Powerhouse Castle Hill and exhibited during Sydney Design Week, which also features a conversation with MPavilion 9 Chair creators Canberra Design Lab 24 September.

Since 2014, the Naomi Milgrom Foundation has invited extraordinary architects from Australia and across the world to design a meeting place for the Queen Victoria Gardens in Melbourne’s heart. From this MPavilion, a five-month design festival of free events is launched – prompting locals and visitors alike to consider how architecture, art and design can change lives. When its season draws to a close, each MPavilion is gifted to the people of Victoria and relocated to a permanent home in the community where it can remain as a catalyst for conversation.

The Foundation commissions a chair for each MPavilion, elevating the careers of emerging and established designers who respond to the unique approach and process of each MPavilion architect. The winning design is prototyped, manufactured and used onsite during the MPavilion season – reaching an expansive network of local and international collaborators, media, partners and visitors.

Previous MPavilion Chairs have been designed by Sean Godsell, OMA, Carme Pinós, Chris Connell, BoardGrove Architects, nüüd studio, Craftspeople in Mumbai and Canberra Design Lab.

‘This year marks a decade of MPavilion as Australia’s leading architecture commission, a place for the community to debate how architecture, art and design can change lives,’ said Naomi Milgrom AC. ‘With one of the country’s finest collections of Australian design, the Powerhouse is the most fitting home for our MPavilion Chairs. We look forward to seeing them on display as part of Sydney Design Week.’

‘Powerhouse is thrilled to partner with MPavilion, which also sits at the intersection of critical theory, design, architecture and art,’ said Powerhouse Chief Executive Lisa Havilah. ‘We are grateful to the Naomi Milgrom Foundation for this exceptional gift and look forward to sharing these designs with the people of Sydney and New South Wales this September and for years to come.’

MPavilion 6 Chair Commission: ‘Stacking Stool’ by Chris Connell Design, photography by Rory Gardiner.

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