Belfast is a divided city – a manifestation of long held and entrenched political and cultural differences. Pre 1969 the streetscape, permeable and legible, enabled adjacent yet distinctcommunities to remain separate, yet neighbourly. Over the course of 40 years of civil conflict however, the city became intrinsically disconnected.
Belfast’s built fabric has been severed and segregated as often invisible boundaries between distinct communities became cast in concrete and steel. Government built barriers known as ‘peace–lines’ were introduced where adhoc ‘barricades’ were erected previously by communities in civil conflict, their existence outlasting the conflict on the ground and now ‘pre–empting any possible social interaction’.
The number of these barriers has risen since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. As a result, much of the post troubles regeneration of Belfast is being founded on the unstable ground of fragmentation and segregation of its neighbourhoods. The Northern Ireland Government aims to remove ‘Peace Walls’ by 2023. Many of these walls are made from demountable building components. As an interim physical step, could this ‘kit of parts’ be re–configured to contribute something positive to a given neighbourhood or address a particular need?
To illustrate this, our winning competition entry proposed adapting a section of wall into a pair of gates–come–benches that open to create a public space straddling the divide. By night the wall remains closed, respecting concerns of residents, while at sunrise each bench/gate swings across to swap ‘sides’ and gesture to a once connected historic street pattern. Routes and vistas are opened that have been severed for a generation.
Belfast is a divided city – a manifestation of long held and entrenched political and cultural differences. Pre 1969 the streetscape, permeable and legible, enabled adjacent yet distinctcommunities to remain separate, yet neighbourly. Over the course of 40 years of civil conflict however, the city became intrinsically disconnected.
Belfast’s built fabric has been severed and segregated as often invisible boundaries between distinct communities became cast in concrete and steel. Government built barriers known as ‘peace–lines’ were introduced where adhoc ‘barricades’ were erected previously by communities in civil conflict, their existence outlasting the conflict on the ground and now ‘pre–empting any possible social interaction’.
The number of these barriers has risen since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. As a result, much of the post troubles regeneration of Belfast is being founded on the unstable ground of fragmentation and segregation of its neighbourhoods. The Northern Ireland Government aims to remove ‘Peace Walls’ by 2023. Many of these walls are made from demountable building components. As an interim physical step, could this ‘kit of parts’ be re–configured to contribute something positive to a given neighbourhood or address a particular need?
To illustrate this, our winning competition entry proposed adapting a section of wall into a pair of gates–come–benches that open to create a public space straddling the divide. By night the wall remains closed, respecting concerns of residents, while at sunrise each bench/gate swings across to swap ‘sides’ and gesture to a once connected historic street pattern. Routes and vistas are opened that have been severed for a generation.
