Winning Project – Waterfront in Belfast

We are happy to announce that our northern friends Henning Larsen Architects have won the 16-acre masterplan for £400 Million waterfront in Belfast, UK. We feel honoured that we could contribute to the final results by taking care of the visual side of the project.

Henning Larsen Architects inspired by successful harbour front development in Copenhagen proposed a masterplan of transforming the east bank of the River Lagan in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Project aims to repopulate the city of Belfast while reviving the potential of waterfronts. Plans include creation of 750 new homes, as well as a hotel, leisure and office spaces along the riverbanks. Masterplan provides new pedestrian and cycle bridge to link the banks of the river, as well as additional leisure and shopping facilities.

“[The] River Lagan will no longer create a barrier in Belfast but is going to connect it instead.”

says Jacob Kurek, Partner at Henning Larsen.

Greenwall and landscape greenery next to the waterfront office building in Belfast

As an architectural solution architects drew inspiration from Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway and its unique terraced stone landscape.

“The strategy of positioning the lower buildings towards the waterfront in the Belfast Waterside development guides winds over buildings instead of through the streets. In the harsh temperate oceanic climate zone of Belfast, this approach reduces wind speed. We estimate that we can prolong the number of weeks per year it’s comfortable to spend time outside from the current 9 weeks to an impressive 25 weeks.”

Jacob Kurek says.

How you recall the collaboration with visualisation studio?

“We especially appreciated short daily Skype sessions with screen sharing, where we could see the progress. Jakub and Filip from ELEMENT brought valuable comments to the table and made the visuals looking better than we could imagine. I do not need to mention that the whole experience was very professional and everything was on time.”

If you are looking for more information about the design check articles on Dezeen or Archdaily.

Filip Kurasz

Advisor, CGI Art Director, Architect
co-owner of ELEMENT VISUALIZATIONS

He believes that creating memorable visualizations is a process whose success consists of many factors. During his career he has acquired design, photography and graphic design competences and in 2015 he combined them by opening a company that creates visualisations for architects, developers and product companies. Together with his team, he helps companies around the world increasing their recognition in the media, competitions and tenders.