TITANIC BELFAST
nine interpretive and interactive galleries that explore the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Titanic, as well as the city and people that made her. The building will also house temporary exhibits, a 1,000–seat banqueting suite, education and community facilities, catering and retail space and a basement car park. The 'Titanic Experience' housed within has been designed by one of Europe's leading exhibition designers, Event, whose previous work includes the award-winning Magna Science Adventure Centre. CivicArts worked closely with Event to develop internal layouts that would maximise the available exhibition space, dividing it into a logical sequence of 'episodes' within Titanic's story. CivicArts' concept design for the lofty central atrium deliberately evokes the towering forms and jagged, jostling angles of an early 20th century shipyard, while the structure’s generous ceiling heights allow for suitably large-scale exhibits. Within the banqueting suite visitors will find a replica of the
Titanic’s iconic Grand Staircase by Torquay-based architects Kay Elliott. As faithful to the original as modern building regulations and design constraints allow, the recreation of the staircase is 23ft high and 24ft wide, has 23 steps, weighs nearly four tonnes and is made up of 10,000 individual parts. It was built in six separate sections using red oak, the same wood which was used for the Titanic’s Grand Staircase.
“A major challenge was the lack of complete drawings of the original staircase,” Kay Elliott’s project director for Titanic Belfast, Mark Muir says. “We developed a detailed 3D technical model based on photographs of the original staircase onboard Titanic’s sister ship Olympic - a job which involved painstaking detective work over several months, so we could be as true to the design as possible. The result is a stunning centrepiece of the Titanic, located on the top two floors of the attraction, that itself offers a journey through history,
showcasing key points in the Titanic ship’s life. It is also testament to the skills of the many designers and craftsman involved.”Alongside the design of the staircase, Kay Elliott was also responsible for the interior design.
In total the 14,000sqm building took three years to complete – the same length of time as Titanic itself – and is designed with the
potential capacity to accommodate up to one million visitors annually. Just as its namesake, the design and construction of the Titanic Belfast has also broken several records – it is officially the largest museum dedicated to the RMS Titanic; the volume of concrete required to form the foundations of the building is the largest ever poured on Ireland/Northern Island; and at 25m, the longest freespan escalator on the island is incorporated within the building. Commenting on the challenging project managing director of Todd Architects, Paul Crowe, says: “We have invested almost four years of work into this truly global project delivering a building that has changed Belfast’s skyline and will help transform international perceptions of the city itself. Developing a building that reflected the ingenuity, ambition and scale of Titanic has been an immense
professional challenge – but one we are delighted to have met. “Titanic Belfast incorporates the best design and technology available,” Crowe continues. “For instance, the building adopted an integrated design approach in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III Guide Lines and is on course for a BREEAM Excellent status. Plus, like Titanic, the project was completed
on budget and to a strenuous time constraint.
“This is a landmark development for Northern Ireland which we believe will demonstrate the ability of iconic architecture to shape internal and external perceptions. Belfast has come far in the past 15– years and a statement building such as Titanic Belfast reflects and reinforces the city’s renewed sense of civic pride and cohesion.”
The museum’s shell has been designed as a tribute to the ill-fated ship - with its very form recalling four 90ft high hulls.
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