MPavilion is Australia’s leading architectural commission and design event, created by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation. Annually, a temporary pavilion is designed and erected in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens. Over the summer, it hosts a program of over 350 free events, performances and installations to encourage conversation, collaboration and experimentation. Canberra Design Lab, a collaborative effort between Sam Tomkins, Iain (Max) Maxwell, and Dr Ben Ennis-Butler, were commissioned to design the seating for MPavilion 2022.

The brief presented to Sam Tomkins, Iain (Max) Maxwell, and Dr Ben Ennis-Butler was to design seating for audiences attending MPavilion 2022’s events that would both compliment and activate the light and colourful design of the MPavilion by all(zone), Thailand. The seating had to be weatherproof, stackable, lightweight and easy to clean. Other key considerations were that the seating be durable and versatile enough to sustain over 350,000 visitors, attending hundreds of varied events across a 5-month season. Additionally, the designers were asked to prioritise sustainable materials and production practices where possible.

Drawing inspiration from the billowing and cellular forms of all(zone)’s MPavilion 2022 design, Canberra Design Lab created a stool with a complex doubly-curved shape, enhancing its stability and offering a combination of support, flex and suspension in all the right places. The translucent yet highly textured surface animates the seat, amplifying its presence under the MPavilion 2022’s vibrant canopy through flickering plays of light while casting spectrums of colour.

It was vital to the brief that the MPavilion chair have very little environmental impact and that it be long lasting and durable. In response to this, the Canberra-based trio manufactured a stool made from rPET (Recyclable Polyethylene Terephthalate), which is a recyclable plastic that can be melted down and repurposed. Dubbed the ‘Re-pete’ stool due to its considered materiality, the seating design is zero-waste and innovatively produced using robotic 3D printing technology. The MPavilion 2022 ‘Re-pete’ stool demonstrate a circular approach, by using entirely salvageable, recyclable and re-manufacturable materials– a true celebration of the aesthetic and functional possibilities of emergent material techniques and robotic fabrication technologies.

The ‘Re-pete’ stool perfectly serves its brief with elegance, subtlety and functionality at the forefront of its design. The volumetric stool graciously compliments all(zone)’s vibrant MPavilion, while remaining adaptable and versatile within the context of its surrounding space. Furthermore, the ‘Re-pete’ chair is an ephemeral exemplar of object-custodianship and how this creative philosophy holds the potential to be a transformational step towards a decarbonised future within the realm of product design.