This project views the city as a theatre and architecture as a public set that informs how people behave in and around it. It also interrogates the meaning of temporary architecture beyond its ‘entertaining’ character and generates provocative conversations where temporality is challenged.

 

By understanding the urban configuration of what is a politically and physically a complicated site, I have proposed a typology of temporary architecture that is less likely to become a trojan horse for gentrification. A collection of 10 ‘inhabited’ brick walls have been placed along the north-eastern corner of the site to provide a permeable enclosure to a potential local market on the other side. The aim is to introduce a first façade that allows for temporary exhibitions, informal retail spaces, and leisure areas to welcome the user and serve as a preamble to a vibrant market.

 

The historic context of Sandy Row (Belfast) as well as an imminent necessity to celebrate the diversity of the area, have informed the final proposal of this intervention. Furthermore, the conception of temporality is challenged, and this is exposed in the juxtaposition between the permanent brick walls and the temporary floorplates that can be easily removed or altered to generate different spaces based on the temporary activity to be carried out. This design proposal conceives Sandy Row community as a valuable piece in the configuration of the City Centre of Belfast and aims to act as a civic magnet for people’s curiosity about what the cultural richness of Belfast has to offer.