Architecture Night celebrated all entrants to this year’s RSUA and JP Corry Storylines Design Competition for Early Career Architects in partnership with Belfast City Council.
The competition challenged Early Career Architects (actively working for less than 15 years) to generate ideas for the meanwhile use of a key site in Belfast City Centre to herald a new era of increased activation of open space in the city. Entrants were encouraged to explore how underutilised space could be made playful for people of all ages, how the city centre could accommodate pockets of nature or how new social spaces could be created.
In particular, entrants were asked for proposed projects to support engagement with the ambitious Belfast Stories project – a landmark, transformative, multi-million-pound tourism destination opening in 2028 on this site.
RSUA and JP Corry were pleased to announce Yellow Box by Cormac McCartney, Alice Gordon, Hayden Allen and Cathal Crumley as the winner of this year’s competition.
The winning entry proposed that Yellow Box would be a celebration of North Street’s cultural heritage and a homage to the former Alhambra theatre that occupied North Street between 1871 and 1951. A former music venue later turned theatre space, the Alhambra defined part of Belfast’s cultural programme for almost a century. Yellow Box is designed to bring an affordable and accessible cultural program to a new generation of Belfast theatre goers.
Yellow Box proposes to provide a platform for young and aspiring creatives to test, experiment and hone their craft. A flexible space, located immediately within, spills outwards from the building and into the street. This establishes a lively ‘village square’ that in turn can facilitate a range of programmed events including musical performances, poetry slams or pop-up artwork and sculpture exhibitions. Yellow Box’s facade has been designed to ensure its weight and mass dissolve upon closer inspection. Users can sneak a peak of the rich programme of activity by simply moving around the object. The box itself is dynamic in that its facade can act as a screen to reveal its workings to the city, doubling the provision of performance space and encouraging passers-by to engage with the spectacle of public open-air theatre and performance.
Northstreet Community Market by Gerard Tohill
The proposal is for a temporary community marketplace in which to exchange goods and stories, helping to support and revitalise the already established heritage of market trading within this area of the city centre.
Stories Square by James Purdy
This project engages with creating a distinctive urban space for Belfast. It isn’t based on one singular move but a series on interlinking design elements to creatively recreate the existing urban block to better promote social engagement, sustainability and ecology set out in a Bolder Vision for Belfast city.
Belfast in Bloom by Niall Quinn, Dean Morrison, Ryan McBride
Belfast in Bloom provides a playful space of light that could become a symbol for growth and regeneration in Belfast. Users can explore the flower gardens, finding pockets of space to sit and swap stories with one another.
The Story Wheel by Lisa Park, Ronan Park, Caolan McCaughley
The Story Wheel is a colourful and sculptural addition to the city. On approach, only colour can be seen but on moving through to the centre of the wheel, colour disappears and is replaced with exposed timber, engraved with words from stories of Belfast.
The Story House by Adrienne Barr
The Story House aims to provide an inviting interactive and collaborative collection of social spaces to invigorate this North Street site. The proposal is to introduce temporary interventions with the underlying concept to create a variety of social spaces to encourage interaction and bring a buzz of activity to the site.
Architecture Night was concluded with Ciarán Fox, RSUA Director announcing the next RSUA and JP Corry Ideas Competition, Net-Zero Neighbourhood. This competition will challenge Early Career Architects to generate ideas for the best way to deliver a net-zero neighbourhood in Northern Ireland. More information will be released soon, so watch this space!
Aidan McGrath -RSUA Design Panel
Alan Jones – RSUA Design Panel
Kari Simpson – RSUA Design Panel
Ciaran McConnell – JP Corry
Eimear Henry – Belfast City Council
Martin Doherty – Belfast City Council
Susan Russam – GEMS Chief Executive
