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Built: East exhibition displays rich heritage

EastSide Partnership and Rachel O’Grady, of Queen’s University and OGU Architects, have launched a temporary exhibition at EastSide Visitor Centre to celebrate the Built:East pavilion at CS Lewis Square.

Sarah Lappin, Rachel O'Grady
Dr Sarah Lappin addresses the exhibition opening event

The exhibition, launched on Wednesday, 15 January 2020, includes information on the construction of the pavilion and its inspiration: the talented and dedicated factory workers of east Belfast.

Designed by OGU Architects and Donald McCrory Architects, Built:East was the winner of the 2017 RSUA / JP Corry Belfast Flare Design Competition which challenged early career architects to create a “structure of beauty, intrigue and inspiration - a place and space that both locals and visitors will want to experience.”

Built: East was inspired by the Belfast Truss roof and the city’s industrial heritage, reflecting its location across the road from the site of the Belfast Ropeworks, once the largest ropemaker in the world.

Dr Sarah Lappin, Head of Architecture at Queen’s, speaking at the event, praised “the way [the team] thought about the design process”, adding that the result “reflects the key involvement of the community”. The Pavilion is an example of the sort of “generous spaces”, Dr Lappin said, “where people can do things – they can have bike repair workshops, they can have fun events, they can do face painting – and it’s what Belfast really needs”.

Since its installation in July 2019 the structure has been used as a meeting point, for live music events, and for craft workshops. The launch exhibition also highlights the inspiration behind the design: the dedicated factory workers of east Belfast. For this purpose, EastSide Partnership worked with local people to collect oral histories of their experience working in factories in east Belfast and built some of these into the exhibition.

DOUG Works was a collaboration by three early career architects: Rachel O’Grady, Donald McCrory and Chris Upson. 

For more on the Eastside Partnership visit this site.

 

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