Editor's picks: 2024 MPavilion program

Melbourne's MPavilion celebrates its first decade by announcing a line-up of more than 100 free events to be held over five months, from November, 2023 to March, 2024.

Launching 16 November in the Queen Victoria Gardens, the festival has been divided into three themes inspired by the architect of the 2023 MPavilion, Tadao Ando. In November and December, programming will consider Memories of Place, the links between water, gardens and changing landscapes and how we benefit from nurturing their existence. In January and February, the festival will honour Craftsmanship, and the artistry and devotion required. A Blank Canvas in March will close out the festival with a celebration of Ando's design philosophy, sparking creativity through his minimalism, masterful conception of space and use of light, shadow and water.

ArchitectureAU rounds up the top architecture and design events:

Wednesday, 22 November, 6:30pm - 8:00pm

As Australia's housing crisis deepens, higher-density living will be a crucial part of any effective solution. Building upwards rather than outwards can be more economically and socially beneficial. In this discussion, experts Nemesia Kennett, Dr James Lesh, Dan McKenna, Colleen Peterson, and Gerhana Waty will delve into the merits and pitfalls of increasing density in urban areas, often characterized as the "Yes-In-My-Backyard" (YIMBY) or "Not-In-My-Backyard" (NIMBY) movements. Through the lenses of planning, design and community care, this discussion asks: how do we respect memories of place while also responding to the need for centrally-located, high-density housing?

Friday, 24 November, 6:30pm - 8:00pm

The Office of the Victorian Government Architect works to ensure Victoria's buildings, infrastructure, and public places are functional, durable, efficient, sustainable, inspiring, and enjoyable, now and into the future. The office will host a discussion with leading thinkers, researchers and design practitioners exploring the topic of holistic architecture and urban planning, with a focus on natural systems and environments.

Monday, 4 December, 2023, Monday, 22 January, 2024 and Monday, 18 March, 2024

MPavilion's seventh annual Blakitecture forum aims to centralize Indigenous voices in conversations about architecture, the representation of histories, and the present and future states of our built environments. Blakitecture was created by MPavilion and led by Sarah Lynn Rees until the last season. This year's event will be curated by MPavilion's program consultant Bradley Kerr. Event times will be announced closer to the date.

Tuesday, 5 December, 6:30pm - 8:00pm

Place as Protagonist explores memories and place in Melbourne through two modes of storytelling: an online map-based community engagement platform Crowd Spot, and a storytelling event that brings a mix of voices together with a prompt to share a story about a time when the city made them laugh or cry. So many places in Melbourne hold significant memories for different people, and bring a richness and nuance to public spaces and landscapes and sharing stories can provide a guide to how the city can embody the stories of its community over time.

Thursday, 7 December, 6:30pm - 8:00pm

Reflect on the sensorial and social value of housing at the launch of the 10th volume of Inflection journal. Inflection is the annual student-run journal curated by the Melbourne School of Design. Now in its tenth year, the 2023 event will look at evolving memories of housing as both a primitive yet complex assembly of contemporary living and urban conditions. Are there alternative patterns of living that tackle these issues, as well as nurture the memories? Come contemplate and celebrate the past and future of our daily lives.

Thursday 14 December, 6:30pm - 7:30pm

The Younghusband Woolstore Redevelopment reimagines a 122-year-old redbrick wool store and adjoining network of industrial early 20th-century buildings as a new mixed-use community precinct. Using an approach that seeks to "lightly touch" the existing historic structures, Woods Bagot will retain the rich heritage and character of the brick warehouses. Come along to this panel discussion and hear from speakers who have worked across all angles of the project, from the architects to the art consultant and the caretaker who has cared for the buildings since the 1970s, as they discuss what will be Melbourne's largest net-zero carbon, adaptive-reuse precinct.

Sunday, 28 January, 2024, 5:00pm - 6:30pm

Explore the experiences, challenges, and stories of migrant female built environment practitioners working in Australia. Through discussing the challenges they have faced and overcome, this panel hopes to foster a deeper understanding of the obstacles that female migrant designers encounter in their professional lives as well as how it plays into their interests in the chosen field. The discussion will delve into the complex interplay between design, culture, identity, and migration, considering the diverse stories, tensions, and interactions these designers and academics have within the Australian context. By inviting these culturally and linguistically diverse designers and academics to speak, this talk aims to provide a platform for marginalized groups to build communities and bonds, and explore how their cultural backgrounds and identities shape their interests and professional practices.

Wednesday, 31 January, 2024, 6:30pm - 8:00pm

NAM (New Architects Melbourne) #42 brings together emerging architects, experienced practitioners and allied professionals to discuss the enduring importance of craftsmanship in shaping the built environment. With the discussion centred around the nuanced relationships between the mastery of materials, site-specificity and emerging technology, attendees are invited to learn more about craft traditions and about collaborating with artisans and local communities to sustain craft techniques. Speakers will each share their encounters and experiences with craft in a rapid PechaKucha-style presentation, with 20 slides and 20 seconds of commentary each.

Tuesday, 27 February, 2024, 6:30pm - 8:30pm

As our climate changes, the celebration, support and amplification of inclusive and non-extractive material practices has never been more urgent. Taking Care is an invitation to celebrate designing on, with, and for Country, through First Nations-led transitions towards material practices of connection and care. Taking Care convenes voices from key First Nations-led projects across the contemporary field of design, introducing the ways in which material practices of care and connection are reshaping the fabric of our grown and built environment.

Sunday, 3 March, 2024, 2:00pm - 3:00pm

This panel discussion will explore the relationship between traditional and modern aspects of everyday life in Japan and connections to architectural and design innovation in Melbourne. The event will accompany an exhibition curated by NMBW Architecture Studio at Robin Boyd's iconic Walsh Street residence. Participants are invited to explore the exhibition before or after the talk.

Sunday, 3 March, 2024, 6:00pm - 8:30pm and Saturday, 9 March, 2024, 6:00pm - 8:30pm

Learn how to photograph the MPavilion structure and showcase its best angles in this workshop with Australia's pre-eminent architectural photographer, John Gollings, known for his expansive work documenting both cultural and contemporary architecture. Suitable for serious photographers, in this workshop Gollings will replicate full architectural coverage of the structure, showing both the constraints and opportunities of ground level and drone photography.

Saturday, 23 March, 2024, 12:00pm - 9:00pm

Celebrating craftsmanship, subversive tactics and inclusive ways of creating, this festival invites you to speculate on what design excellence could look like in Melbourne and how we might work together to achieve it. The Festival will explore interdisciplinary co-creation and how unlikely partnerships may influence ways of doing things, for the better. Join artists, agitators, provocateurs, built environment professionals, academics and activists for an afternoon of sequential collaborative workshops, discussions and performances. Designed for diverse participants to freely contribute and interact through a range of activities, this event welcomes people of all ages, genders, cultures, abilities and walks of life.

Wednesday, 27 March, 2024, 6:30pm - 7:30pm

To what extent should architecture consider or ignore the natural and contextual environments of buildings? When architects consider the local climate, culture, and history of a project, they can design more energy-efficient, functional buildings that respond to the needs of the people using them. On the other hand, some architects believe that considering nature and context can limit the architect's creativity and lead to less innovative buildings. Listen to all living recipients of the Australian Institute of Architects Gold Medal prize, as invited by the Institute, as they discuss and debate critical regionalism versus global modernism.