The city dreaming itself…

Belfast Stories is a major new cultural destination that will explore the city’s past, present and future through the voices of its people. Commissioned by Belfast City Council and currently in development, the project combines a landmark visitor experience with a cinema and creative production spaces. Working as part of a wider team led by Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA), Barker Langham is shaping a visitor journey unlike any other – where everyday memories and lived experience take center stage.

Through interpretive masterplanning, co-creation, and deep local engagement, we are contributing to a new kind of cultural institution: one that remains open, inclusive, and unfinished by design. At the heart of this process is a belief in the power of storytelling to regenerate place, foster connection, and reflect the complex identity of a city that continues to evolve.

The interpretive plan for Belfast Stories began not with a fixed storyline, but with an open question: how can we let the city speak for itself? Rather than imposing a traditional top-down structure, we developed a framework shaped by three universal lenses – time, space and emotion – to help organise material while allowing for flexibility, multiplicity, and surprise. This anti-IP approach has given space for stories of all scales to surface, from a personal memory of a kitchen table to the broader sweep of Belfast’s political, industrial, and cultural history.

Community engagement is not a bolt-on for this project – it is its engine. Through the Stories Network initiative, local people have been invited to contribute memories, anecdotes and ideas in a series of participatory events led by Belfast City Council, the architects and Barker Langham. These sessions generate more than content, they help test the interpretive concept, build local ownership, and ensure the experience remains grounded in the voices of the people it represents.

Belfast is a city of storytellers. From the earliest stages of the project, we’ve collaborated with local artists and creatives to define how the city’s creative community can shape the project, not just as contributors, but as co-makers. This has included workshops to develop themes, discussions around form and tone, and planning how local makers might continue to contribute after the centre opens. The project aims to support emerging talent while celebrating the vibrancy of the creative sector.

The stories at the heart of the project span timeframes, communities and perspectives. As part of our content strategy, we are working to document, interpret and preserve forms of intangible cultural heritage, from dialect and oral history to everyday traditions and the distinctive humour of the city. This work recognises that heritage is not always grand or official – it’s often embedded in how people talk, what they remember, and what they choose to pass on.

Belfast Stories is more than a cultural destination – it’s a project shaped by and for the people of Belfast. At its core is a belief in the power of storytelling to reconnect communities, reflect lived experience, and honour the city’s many voices. While the initiative supports wider regeneration goals, its heart lies in creating a space where civic pride, complexity and shared belonging can coexist, where stories from the past help shape the city’s future, and all are invited to contribute.

From its inception, Belfast Stories has been designed to grow and evolve. The experience will not be a static exhibition but an open-ended platform that remains responsive to the city it reflects. New stories will be added over time, with visitors invited not only to listen, but to contribute. In this way, the centre becomes part of the story of Belfast itself, a place of memory, dialogue, and creative possibility.