The Australian summer at MPavillon

The Indian architect Bijoy Jain brings his natural design approach to Melbourne

Summer is coming in Australia, bringing with it the third edition of the MPavillon, a unique architecture commission and design event based in Melbourne. The event hub, which is also a meeting place and an invitation to experiment, brings creative collaborators together to present a free, four-month program of talks, workshops, performances and installations from October to February. This year, the temporary pavilion, located in the center of Melbourne’s Southbank Arts Precinct, has been designed by Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, an award-winning architect and practice of distinction based in India, with a solid reputation for top craftsmanship, elegant designs and collaborative working.

Inspired by traditional Indian structures, the architect and his team created a structure out of bamboo, using stone and rope: 7km of bamboo, 50t of stone and 26km of rope for an extraordinary 16.8m square summer pavilion. Encapsulating Jain’s on going interest in traditional craftsmanship and human connectedness, the pavilion sits on a bluestone floor sourced from a quarry in Port Fairy, Victoria. Bamboo poles imported from India especially for the MPavilion are pegged together with 5,000 wooden pins and lashed together with rope. Slatted panels that form the MPavilion roof are constructed from sticks from the Karvi plant woven together by craftspeople in India over four months.