Metropolitan Arts Centre (MAC)

The MAC is the practice's first major public building. The project represents the culmination of over 10 year's of work on competitions as we sought opportunities of public significance. This project demonstrates our commitment to the creation of considered architecture in a city that has been neglected during years of political unrest.

The MAC demonstrates a commitment to making buildings that deserve to 'grow old'. We are interested in how our buildings sit within a wider view of a city's history. The MAC has been built with robust materials and detailing & brick, concrete, terrazzo that will all age with dignity & these materials have already conferred a sense of age and weight to the building. Despite its 'youth' (opened in April 2012) the building has already been absorbed into the phenomenon of Belfast. We hope to create buildings that become truly 'public'. The MAC provides a new territory in Belfast, a place for people to meet and interact. Our proposal sought to recreate the life of a street or square within an 'open' public building; the purpose of the space is neither private nor commercial in intent, it is social, urban, convivial and popular, in a city that for so long lacked an idea of the purpose of public space.

The MAC achieved BREEAM 'Excellent', the first arts centre of its type to do so. Energy efficiency was at the core of the brief. Specialist technologies, such as geothermal heating and cooling, were incorporated into the building to help gain this efficiency rating. The external envelope is insulated to higher standards than the statutory requirements and the building has a general level of air tightness which achieves a 40% improvement on the minimum standards with some areas of special environmental control achieving an 80% improvement.