“In the lives of cities, boldness and vision rarely follow catastrophe,” wrote
architectural critic Paul Goldberger. The city of Belfast may be the exception that
proves the rule. After a generation of Troubles, the citizens of the great port city have
grown accustomed to peace and economic growth. Innovation is surging. Titanic
Belfast rises as one of Europe’s largest waterfront structures. TURLOUGH MC CONNELL
examines the complex legacy of RMS Titanic and the impact of its compelling
maritime heritage on a citizenry poised for economic and cultural success.
A Special Supplement to Irish America Magazine in cooperation with Titanic Foundation. Produced by Turlough McConnell and Kate Overbeck.
TITANIC BELFASTArchitecture for a New Age
Belfast will attract around 400,000 visitors annu-
ally, of whom between 130,000 and 165,000 will
be from outside Northern Ireland.”
Titanic Foundation is a company limited by
guarantee with charitable objectives to educate
people on Belfast’s social, historical, industrial and
maritime heritage through the story of the Titanic.
The goal is to communicate through extensive
outreach programs that the innovation, engineer-
ing and craftsmanship that flourished in Belfast
one hundred years ago continues today.
The Foundation plans to create a one-of-a-
kind, “must-see” visitor attraction. Jonathan
Hegan, Chairman of the Titanic Foundation,
points to the scale of the project and its capacity
for delivering an inspirational learning experi-
ence. “Titanic Belfast will be a flagship destina-
tion,” says Hegan. “Iconic in design and home to a
world-class exhibition on the site of the Belfast
shipyard where the great ocean liner was built. It
will inform, inspire and entertain the thousands of
visitors every year who walk through its doors.”
The aim of the Foundation is to
restore the pride associated with
the building of the Titanic. The
project will honor the technolog-
ical capability that produced
Titanic a century ago as an inspiration for estab-
lishing Belfast and Northern Ireland as a lead-
ing tourism destination, building on the global
recognition of the Titanic brand.
Strategic Investment Board, Northern Ireland
Ltd (SIB) is one of several groups supporting the
goals of the Foundation. Dr. Bryan Gregory,
SIB’s Strategic Advisor and Interim CEO of the
Foundation, speaks of the need to maintain
authenticity. “The overall design of the building
has been influenced by the shipbuilding her-
As recently as last December,
amid a faltering world econ-
omy, supporters of Titanic
Foundation wondered how the
ambitious mixed-use water-
front project centered on the signature structure
Titanic Belfast would be completed. Many ques-
tioned whether the ambitious visitor attraction
would be ready in 2012 to mark the 100th
anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic.
Plans for building Titanic Belfast, and for rede-
veloping the historic shipyards, have stayed afloat
thanks to the unflagging commitment of public
and private stakeholders. In late 2008 Tourism
Minister Arlene Foster announced that the $140
million package needed to fund the building
would be shared equally by the Government,
through the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, 50%
and 50% from their partners in the private sector,
Titanic Quarter Ltd and Belfast Harbour Commis-
sioners. Belfast City Council contributed the bal-
ancing $15 million. Overall this unique funding
partnership has but one single objective: to com-
plete and open the main attraction to visitors in
time for the 2012 centennial.
Today, the pace of construction is brisk. Activ-
ity around the site conjures the tumultuous
images of 19th century Belfast, of workmen, vehi-
cles and objects moving swiftly in all directions.
Minister Foster recently confirmed that work
is advancing well. “Good progress is being
made to create a world-class tourist attraction
for Northern Ireland. We have a proud industrial
and maritime heritage, and only Belfast can tell
the complete story of the world famous RMS
Titanic. This project will give potential tourists a
compelling reason to visit.”
“The social and economic benefits will also
be very significant. We estimate that Titanic
“Titanic Belfast will be
a flagship destination.
Iconic in design and
home to a world-class
exhibition on the site of
the Belfast shipyard
where the great ocean
liner was built. It will
inform, inspire and
entertain the thou-
sands of visitors every
year who walk through
its doors.”
Cover page: A nighttime rendering of theexterior of Titanic Belfast designed bythe American-born architect Eric Kuhne. Left, top: Titanic Quarter, with TitanicBelfast at the center, is the most impor-tant regeneration opportunity in North-ern Ireland for a generation. Left, below: Shipyard workers swarmdown Queen’s Road in May 1911. At thisperiod about 14,000 men were employedby Harland & Wolff at Queen’s Island.Photograph by Peter Lavery.Top: RMS Titanic, made in Belfast, sets sailto Southampton, England for her tragicmaiden voyage. (Heritage photographssupplied by The Ulster Folk and TransportMuseum Photographic Archive.)
itage of Belfast. The building in its line and form
incorporates elements of the Titanic bow, the
White Star Line insignia and the gantries used to
build the Titanic.”
“Titanic Belfast will be over five stories
high,” adds Hegan. “It will house a range of
themed exhibition galleries capable of han-
dling around 900,000 visitors annually. Visitors
will learn about the construction of RMS
Titanic and the wide and rich story of Northern
Ireland’s industrial and maritime heritage.”
As he sees it, “The mission of the Founda-
tion is to educate the public about Belfast’s
maritime heritage through the story of RMS
Titanic. This will be done mainly through
Titanic Belfast and outreach programs that will
inspire a new generation to become truly
‘titanic’ thinkers.”
“As one of the cornerstones of Titanic Belfast
and a symbol of the Northern Ireland’s vitality,”
says Gregory, “we plan to promote an under-
standing, appreciation, and enjoyment of mar-
itime history and heritage and its values in this
authentic setting.”
The Titanic Belfast concept began to emerge
in 2005 as part of a revitalization plan for the city
docklands. Angus Waddinton, Project Manager
for Todd Architects, says with pride, “As soon as
Titanic Belfast opens its doors it will earn its
place as Northern Ireland’s centerpiece of mod-
ern architecture. We are all very proud to be
working to make this happen.”
Howard Hastings, Chairman of the Northern
Ireland Tourist Board, says: “Titanic Belfast was
identified as one of five Signature Projects to
showcase what is unique about Northern Ire-
land. This project will bring the story of RMS
Titanic back home to Belfast, where she and her
sister ships were designed and built. It will also
act as a massive pull for visitors to the rest of
Northern Ireland.”
Mike Smith, CEO of Titanic Quarter Ltd,
added: “Progress on the main building will
enable us to develop related plans for hotels,
retail units and additional leisure space, includ-
ing the development of Slipway Park – one of
the largest public spaces to be created in Belfast
in the past 50 years.”
“Belfast Harbor already attracts 60,000 cruise
passengers and crew every year and over 1.2
million ferry passengers,” says Len O’Hagan,
Chairman of Belfast Harbour. “Creating a focal
point for the only authentic Titanic heritage in
the world, just miles from where passengers
arrive today, will be a major attraction that will
enhance Belfast’s growing popularity as a
tourist destination.”
Just how significant is a great building to the
revival of a city? Rarely can a single building be
judged a transformational work. But one major
precedent inspires all charged with that mis-
sion – Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao.
The latest issue of Vanity Fair reports on a
survey of 90 of the world’s leading architects,
teachers, and critics, who were asked to name
the most significant structure built in recent
memory. The majority of the 52 experts who
ultimately participated in the poll – including 11
Pritzker Prize winners and the deans of eight
major architecture schools – cited Gehry’s
Guggenheim Bilbao.
What Bilbao was in the 20th century for
Spain, Titanic Belfast plans to be in the 21st cen-
tury for Northern Ireland. The city of Bilbao –
today one of Europe’s top tourist destinations –
was such a backwater in the 1990s that, accord-
ing to Gehry, the 265,000-square-foot museum
went up almost unnoticed by the press.
In 2005 Eric Kuhne and Associates (also
known as Civic Arts) were appointed by
Titanic Quarter Ltd as lead concept
architects and Master Planners for
Titanic Quarter. Civic Arts began creat-
ing the Development Framework, originally
designed by Turley Associates, into a Master
Plan for Titanic Quarter. The Master Plan created
a blueprint for the Titanic Quarter into a $5 bil-
lion waterfront development expected to create
at least 25,000 new jobs over the next 15 years.
As envisioned by Kuhne and his associates,
Titanic Belfast will be a spectacularly visible
structure serving as a sculptural backdrop for
Queens Island, the Port of Belfast, the Lagan
River and the hills surrounding Belfast. Kuhne
describes the rationale for the design. “Other
cities’ waterfronts have nowhere near the legacy
of this site. During the latter stages of the Indus-
trial Revolution, Belfast attracted some of the
world’s best engineers, designers and artisans.
The city was the center of innovative naval
architecture and single-handedly invented lux-
“Titanic Belfast will
be over five stories
high. It will house a
range of themed exhi-
bition galleries capa-
ble of handling
around 900,000 visi-
tors annually. Visi-
tors will learn about
the construction of
RMS Titanic and the
wide and rich story of
Northern Ireland’s
industrial and mar-
itime heritage.”
Right, top: Titanic Belfast holds therecord for the largest concrete pour inthe history of modern construction onthe island of Ireland. (Photograph byChris Hill.) Right, bottom: In 1911 the twin slip-ways show actual side-by-side construction of White Star passengerships, RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic.
Jonathan HeganChairman, Titanic Foundation
ury ocean travel. We have already seen the suc-
cess of the Northern Ireland Science Park at the
docklands in attracting major investors like
Microsoft and Citigroup. That is only the start of
the growth that will be achieved here.”
Historic precedents have driven the design
process. The final form of Titanic Belfast will
reflect the industrial legacy of Harland & Wolff
and the impact of shipbuilding and the sea on
Belfast’s development. The prow of the build-
ing’s glass-walled atrium plots a course down
the centre of the listed Titanic and Olympic slip-
ways towards the lapping waters of the River
Lagan. The project’s close proximity to the site
where these two ships were forged lends excep-
tional authenticity and immediacy.
The building’s form evokes a host of maritime
metaphors; its four projecting segments suggest
ships’ prows ploughing through the North
Atlantic swell. Almost the entire façade will be
clad in faceted, three-dimensional zinc plates in a
pattern resembling the construction of the great
ocean liners. The reflection pools that spread out
from its base multiply the nocturnal illuminations.
The lower portions of the four wedges tell the
evolution of shipbuilding technology with a series
of materials, including lapped timber planking,
riveted iron, welded steel, and finally, aluminum.
Within, the project pro-
vides over 12,000 sqm
of space on 5 floors
whose combined height
is equivalent to that of a
10-storey building. Every element of the con-
struction and design has been executed with
close attention to detail. The generous ceiling
heights allow for large-scale exhibits, while the
lower levels are controlled environments suit-
able for installations evocative of heavy indus-
try or the depths of a ship’s hull. Directly under
the sweeping roof will lie a banquet hall to seat
750, the largest in Belfast. Panoramic views can
be had from various entertaining areas. Strips of
under-lit glass will radiate from a compass rose
laid into the atrium floor to create a dramatic
“carpet” of light across the square. Like the lines
of antique nautical charts, these lines allow
pedestrians to navigate to other local landmarks
through connections between the exhibition's
displays and the topography of the site.
Acentury ago Belfast was a hub
of the Industrial Revolution,
thriving on heavy engineering
and shipbuilding, and the Port
of Belfast was one of the
world’s greatest docklands. When work began
on the RMS Titanic in1909, Belfast was at its
peak, but by 2000 shipbuilding was down to a
trickle and the Belfast docks lay almost idle.
Now, after more than a decade of peace and in
response to the demise of the great shipbuild-
ing days of yore, a new vision is taking hold on
the docklands within walking distance of
Belfast’s city center. Titanic Quarter is one of
Europe’s largest urban waterfront develop-
ments – more than twice the size of London’s
Canary Wharf. “This will become a major sym-
bol of the economic regeneration of Belfast and
Northern Ireland,” says Hegan.
“Bringing Titanic Belfast to life isn’t just
about bricks and mortar,” he explains. “It’s
about fostering a sense of community and
ensuring that existing communities can benefit
from and be part of the structure. The Founda-
tion’s integrated approach recognizes the
importance of the economic, social and
regional aspects of regeneration.” Hegan con-
tinues, “Our key responsibility is to the commu-
nity.” Although Titanic Quarter is creating a
new urban centre in the heart of Belfast, it is
also establishing a community that will be part
of day-to-day life in the city.
“We are committed to engaging with the
people of Belfast, particularly those from
socially disadvantaged communities, and
encouraging them to avail of opportunities in
Titanic Quarter.” says Hegan. “To this end, we
work with the public, private, and community
sector organizations. We are working closely
with relevant organizations throughout Belfast,
especially those in neighboring East Belfast.”
As Belfast’s Lord Mayor Pat Convery sees it,
“Titanic Quarter, with the exhibition structure at
the center, will bring new life to a part of the city
that is rich in both history and potential. It will
become a major social and business meeting
place with galleries, theatres, parklands and
water sports all easily connected to Belfast's
thriving city centre.”
“In the lives of cities, boldness and vision
rarely follow catastrophe,” wrote architectural
“Bringing Titanic
Belfast to life isn’t
just about bricks and
mortar,” says Chair-
man Hegan. “It’s
about fostering a
sense of community
and ensuring that
existing communi-
ties can benefit from
and be part of the
structure. The Foun-
dation’s integrated
approach recognizes
the importance of the
economic, social and
regional aspects of
regeneration. Our
key responsibility is
to the community.”
Left, top: Far left, Wallace Lawson,Interim COO of Titanic Foundation. (Atrear) Noel Molloy, Project Director, Har-court Construction. Far right, Dr. BryanGregory, Interim CEO of Titanic Foun-dation with workmen William Bennett,Aiden McGarry and John Duffin. Left, bottom: The oldest section of theformer Harland & Wolff headquarters,located next to Titanic Belfast, will berefurbished. This includes the Draw-ing Offices where construction plansfor Titanic were made. (Photographby Peter Lavery, courtesy of TitanicQuarter Ltd)
critic Paul Goldberger. The city of Belfast may
be the exception that proves the rule. Innova-
tion is surging. Titanic Belfast rises as one of
Europe’s largest waterfront developments.
Architecture can play a major civic role in creat-
ing symbols of local, regional or national pride.
Buildings have regenerated and energized cities
worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, which was expanded in 1967 by the
architect Kevin Roche. Other examples include
architect Jorn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House in
Australia and I.M. Pei’s remarkable project at the
Louvre in Paris. Jacques Herzog and Pierre de
Meuron redesigned the Tate Modern in the
Bankside Power Station on the Thames River.
The original Tate Modern was designed for 1.8
million visitors a year. Ten years later, 45 million
have visited the galleries, more than twice the
number predicted.
Iconic structures do connect visitors with the
culture and the history of cities worldwide.
Titanic Foundation holds as its central mission to
develop educational programs that will help
inspire the next generation of leadership and
innovation. With the best visionary leaders, urban
planners, architects, builders, creative designers,
educators and community activists at the helm of
Titanic Foundation and Titanic Belfast, Northern
Ireland is poised to show how the architecture of
hope and the architecture of history are bound
together as never before.
Top: Titanic Belfast, at the center of Titanic Quarter, will be hometo a world-class exhibition designed by renowned creative com-pany Event Communications. Middle: The new headquarters of the Public Records of NorthernIreland, recently completed by Todd Architects. Bottom: Rendering of Belfast Metropolitan College, one of thelargest Further & Higher Education Colleges in the UK or Ireland.The new campus will have direct links with businesses locatedthroughout Titanic Quarter.
We’ll be ready for you in 2012We’d love to be part of your next vacation
For further information visit:
www.titanic-foundation.orgwww.gotobelfast.comwww.discovernorthernireland.com