Ulster Museum

The Ulster Museum sits within the Botanic Gardens, identifiable by the stark, massive concrete blocks of its modernist extension that collide with the original neoclassical masonry. Designed by architect Francis Pym and opened in nineteen seventy-two, this brutalist wing was intended to represent a bold, new era for Northern Ireland's national museum. Its heavy cantilevers and raw, angular aesthetic marked a sharp break from the structured, ionic columns of the nineteen twenty-nine building, creating a layered structure that looks like a sculpture in progress.