Titanic Signature Project: An Exploration of Belfast's Shipbuilding Past

The Titanic Signature Project’s nine galleries are laid out in “episodes.” This episodic approach to the project came about due to the multifaceted nature of the Titanic story itself. “Our first recommendation was that it couldn’t just be a story about one tragic ship,” said Eric Kuhne, AIA, founding partner of CivicArts, LLP, a research and design practice located in London. “It had to be a story of over 400 years of maritime excellence in Belfast.”

CivicArts worked closely with Event, designers of the Titanic Experience exhibition, to develop the internal layout and circulation pattern of the building. Rather than simply capturing the tale of the Titanic, the Titanic Signature Project details the history of Belfast as a maritime city with the Titanic being an element of the expansive story.

“We have two stories here: Over four centuries of innovation, creativity, and production of the finest ships in the world. And then, of course, you have how that intersected with the building of the Titanic itself,” Kuhne says. “People think Belfast kind of just collapsed after the Titanic tragedy, but in fact, it more than doubled in ship-building activity after that. So, I think that balancing in between those two impacts the way the gallery was sorted out.”

“The most important thing was we wanted to make it so people could go through the galleries and get the whole story,” Kuhne says. “It was originally planned to be a 90-minute tour, but people are doing it in three, sometimes four hours, because it’s so packed with [information].”

One building, multiple metaphors

In addition to the designing the unique layout of the interior of the building, CivicArts also had special considerations to make for the exterior of the building.

“Most of the past hundred years has been about building things that look the same and would fit anywhere, but what we try to do is try to respect the authenticity of the place,” Kuhne says. “So the building design spawns from everything from glorious photos of ships being built on Harland and Wolff shipyard, spectacular imagery of all those construction scaffoldings and ships' hulls, rising up above the dry docks.”

Designers went through six design phases or evolutions prior to deciding on the final design, which is a combination of elements from four design phases. The first evolution, Crystal Clear, was an artistic interpretation of the North Atlantic’s icy conditions – hard edges and flat planes. The second evolution, Amorphous Iceberg, took a more literal approach, with its irregular shape resembling an iceberg. A white star, representative of the White Star Line’s logo, was considered during the third evolution. (The White Star Line was the Titanic’s operating company.) Diamond Shards, the fourth design evolution, was comprised of exaggerated shapes representing crystal shards, which would convey the great impact created by the Titanic’s collision with the iceberg years ago. Both the fifth and sixth evolutions  – Shipyard Prows and Plated Bows – were inspired by the ship itself.