The sun shone during a Spring heat-wave as Australian Soprano Deborah Cheetham, tested the acoustics of Amanda Levete’s 2015 translucent Pavilion. Levete, an English Stirling Prize Architect, presented her vision to the creative expertise of local engineers and mouldCAM, to develop.

The simple elegance of the structure undermines the sophistication of the technology involved in its construction. The modular design consists of ‘petals’ which are  ‘impossibly thin’ and include LED lighting. Levete and mouldCAM sought to push the boundaries of design by exploring maritime materials and re-develop them for innovative purposes.

Melbourne Press asked Levete, what her inspiration was?

“A natural canopy”

The carbon fiber poles that hold the structure are designed to move and shake in the wind, just as branches do.

“It had to be a live canopy, calm when it is calm, and move when it is windy’ Jamie Marina from mouldCAM explained.

In the evening the structures ‘black arms’ are designed to disappear into the night as the petals, that are translucent by day, take on a floating glow.

“I hope you can look up through your canopy and dream” Levete

There are over 200 free events planned for the MPavilion which has been officially opened by David Roth, Director of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Funding for the project was through the Naomi Milgrom Foundation.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle proclaimed that Victoria is still  the ‘Garden State’.

Each year a new Pavilion is erected for the summer and the previous one is located somewhere in the City. The structure in this article now resides in the docklands, another   has taken pride of place at the Zoo.

 

For event details go to http://www.mpavillion.org