To celebrate the launch of MPavilion 10, join MPavilion founder and commissioner Naomi Milgrom AC to discuss the process of building the structure with esteemed Australian architect Sean Godsell – Principal of Sean Godsell Architects and Executive Architect of MPavilion 10 in Australia – and the thinkers behind the construction of the pavilion, Project Manager Harry Wynn Pope and Technical Director of AECOM, Nigel Burdon.

Hosted by Australian architect and presenter of Grand Designs Australia, Peter Maddison, the talk will explore the extraordinary story behind MPavilion 10. This building, designed by Tadao Ando, marks the tenth anniversary of the iconic architectural commission and is the first of its kind in Australia.

Collaborators:

Peter Maddison, Facilitator. Peter Maddison is the Founding Director of Maddison Architects, a multi award-winning architectural practice. He has a unique appreciation of architecture manifest in the hundreds of projects his practice has completed, awards received and extensive involvement with the profession. He is currently the Ambassador for Architects Without Frontiers, the Patron of Beaumaris Modern, and the Ambassador for the Melbourne Open House program and has been making Grand Designs Australia for decade putting architecture on the public agenda. He has been conferred with The National Presidents Prize, a Life Fellow by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, and a Doctor of Design (Honoris Causa) at RMIT University in recognition of his career and service to the profession.

Sean Godsell, Executive Architect MPavilion 10. Sean Godsell graduated with First Class Honours from The University of Melbourne in 1984. He spent much of 1985 travelling in Japan and Europe and worked in London from 1986 to 1988 for Sir Denys Lasdun. In 1994, he formed Sean Godsell Architects. His work has been published in the world’s leading architectural journals and he has lectured and exhibited in the USA, UK, China, Japan, India, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, and New Zealand, as well as across Australia. In July 2002, the influential English design magazine Wallpaper* listed him as one of ten people destined to “change the way we live”. His Future Shack housing prototype was exhibited at the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in New York in 2005 and the facade prototype of the RMIT Design Hub is on permanent display at the V+A Museum in London. He has received numerous local and international awards. Electa published the monograph Sean Godsell in 2005. In 2013 the Spanish publication El Croquis published the monograph Sean Godsell – Tough Subtlety and in 2018 Thames and Hudson published the monograph Sean Godsell – Houses. In 2013 and 2014, he was visiting professor at the IUAV in Venice. He is adjunct professor of architecture at Deakin University. He is the recipient of the 2022 AIA Gold Medal.

Harry Wynn Pope, Project Manager, Kane Constructions. Harry stepped in as the Project Manager for MPavilion 10, tapping into Kane’s experience from eight prior MPavilions to steer the creation of Tadao Ando’s pavilion. He collaborated with an excellent consultant and subcontractor team, ensuring a triumphant outcome for the project.

Nigel Burdon is a Technical Director in the AECOM Melbourne Building Structures team who has worked around the world on various high profile and technically challenging projects. He has a particular interest in geometrically complex structures, timber engineering, and in collaborating with designers on architecturally significant buildings. Nigel’s project experience includes Bunjil Place in Narre Warren, the XRL West Kowloon Terminus Roof in Hong Kong, King Abdullah International Gardens in Riyadh, and the major mass timber commercial buildings Ballarat GovHub and T3 Collingwood here in Victoria. Nigel has led the AECOM team to undertake the engineering on the last four MPavilions.