“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