Titanic Belfast unveiled
March 31 2012
Designed by CivicArts/Eric R Kuhne & Associates and Todd Architects the £97m centre is located in the shipyard where the eponymous vessel was built and features six floors of interactive galleries which bring the sights, sounds, smells and stories of the ship to life.
Centrepiece of the wider Titanic Quarter, a new retail, residential and business district, the scheme is intended to enliven Belfast’s waterfront.
Kune said: “As Concept Design Architects we have created an architectural icon that captures the spirit of the shipyards, ships, water crystals, ice, and the White Star Line's logo. Its architectural form cuts a skyline silhouette that has been inspired by the very ships that were built on this hallowed ground.
“Behind this shimmering crystalline façade, four dynamic ships hulls hold nine galleries. Glass balconies overlook the shipyard, drawing office, slipways, and Belfast city centre. The five-storey central atrium is inspired by the majesty of gangways, gantries, cranes that filled the void between the Titanic & Olympic when they lay side-by-side upon the slipways.”
Paul Crowe, MD of Todd Architects, added:” Titanic Belfast has a complicated geometry, providing a challenging build programme which required ground-breaking construction techniques. Its stand-out exterior façade, which replicates four 90 ft high hulls, is clad in 3,000 individual silver anodized aluminium shards, of which two-thirds are unique in design. The resolution of the geometries involved required the use of sophisticated 3D-modelling, completed by Todds in-house, in a process of ‘virtual prototyping’ which we developed specifically for the project.”
Completion marks the centenary of the Titanic's maiden voyage in April
The 14,000sq/m building took three years to complete - the same amount of time as the Titanic itself
The ambitious design was built by Harcourt Construction
The attraction lies in the shadow of the Harland & Wolff shipyard
The attraction will house a banqueting suite, education and community facilities
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2 Comments
#2 Posted by SAndals on 2 Apr 2012 at 09:28 AM
Brilliant - without a hint of irony, the concept architect has designed an iceberg!
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About 400 years ago, my schoolmates and I went on the traditional day trip to the Glasgow Transport Museum. We were in the room which held models of all the Clyde built ships, en masse, but couldn't see the most famous ship of all, so one of us asked the security guard where the Titanic was.
'That wasn't built on the Clyde, lads', he said, peeking out from under the peak of his cap.
'How dae you know?', asked a wee gallus weegie wean.
'It sank, son.'