Client: Hall McKnight

The MAC in Belfast, designed by Hall McKnight, is a landmark cultural building completed in 2012 following an RIBA International Design Competition in 2007. The project provides performance spaces, contemporary art galleries, and supporting facilities, creating a vibrant new public destination in the heart of the city.

The building’s interiors and foyers evoke the compressed streetscape of Belfast’s historic merchant quarter, featuring top-lit spaces that connect the city’s urban fabric to the cultural experience within. Large-scale brickwork and exposed in-situ concrete are used both externally and internally, referencing the robust Victorian architecture of the surrounding area while providing a modern, durable material palette. Since its completion, The MAC has been widely recognised, receiving the Downes Medal from the Architectural Association of Ireland in 2013, a RIBA National Award, and nominations for the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, as well as the Design Museum Designs of the Year.

The imagery captures the building’s striking materiality, spatial quality, and interaction with the city context.

To explore more projects designed by Hall McKnight, click here.