Todd Architects Launches Titanic Belfast
Published: Thursday, April 19, 2012
Todd Architects has recently handed over Titanic Belfast, the world’s largest Titanic visitor attraction, which formally opened on 31st March. As lead consultant / architect on Ireland’s largest tourism project, designed in conjunction with concept architects CivicArts, Todd Architects has worked closely with a range of partners to ensure the successful completion of the £97m building.
Located on the site where Titanic was designed and built, Titanic Belfast’s six exhibition floors feature nine interpretive and interactive galleries that explore the sights, sounds, smells and stories of Titanic, as well as the city and people which made her. The building also houses temporary exhibits, a 1,000-seat banqueting suite, education and community facilities, catering and retail space and a basement car park.
Work on the project started in August 2008 and Todd Architects has since overseen one of the most ambitious and challenging construction programmes in the UK and Ireland. The 14,000m2 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 1m visitors annually.
Paul Crowe, Managing Director of Todd Architects, commented: “Developing a building that reflected the ingenuity, ambition and scale of Titanic has been an immense professional challenge – one we are delighted to have met. Titanic Belfast has a complicated geometry, providing a challenging build programme which required ground-breaking construction techniques. The 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.”
Images from the official opening of Titanic Belfast on 31 March 2012
Categories: Architecture | Practice
