Indian architech Bijoy Jain has designed Australia's Largest Bamboo Structure in Melbourne.
A unique handmade pavilion, believed to be Australia's largest bamboo structure designed by an Indian architect using all organic materials from India, opened in Melbourne in Queen Victoria Gardens.
The third annual summer pavilion, designed by Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, officially opened on Tuesday night.
Dubbed as Australia's largest bamboo structure, MPavilion 2016 has been included as a part of the programme for the ongoing Indian fest 'Confluence: Festival of India' that is running across major Australian cities.
The art structure was officially opened by MPavilion founder Naomi Milgrom AO, Melbourne's Lord Mayor Robert Doyle and Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Suri welcomed the partnership between MPavilion 2016 and the ongoing Indian festival and complimented the Naomi Milgrom Foundation for selecting Mr Bijoy Jain.
Navdeep Suri said that the structure was a distinctive one whose simplicity, elegance and frugal design represented a truly Gandhian spirit.
MPavilion 2016, a handmade architectural piece, uses seven km of bamboo, 50 tonnes of stone and 26 km of rope to create an extraordinary 16.8 m square pavilion which 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 and slatted panels that form the MPavilion roof are constructed from sticks from the Karvi plant woven together by craftspeople in India over four months.
"MPavilion is a space for the people of Melbourne to gather, talk, think and to reflect. My objective has not just been to create a new building, but to capture the spirit of the place by choosing the right materials, respecting the surrounding nature and working collaboratively with local craftspeople to share design and construction ideas," said Mr Jain.
The MPavilion 2016 design employed handcrafted Indian construction methods, refined in collaboration with a team of Australian builders from Kane Construction who travelled to Mumbai to take part in Mr Bijoy Jain's collaborative and intuitive approach to design and construction.